{"id":4106,"date":"2014-02-25T11:37:31","date_gmt":"2014-02-25T18:37:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/?p=4106"},"modified":"2014-02-25T11:37:31","modified_gmt":"2014-02-25T18:37:31","slug":"white-smile-center-tijuana-dentist-or-rather-more-dental-work-yay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/?p=4106","title":{"rendered":"White Smile Center Tijuana Dentist or rather MORE dental work… yay"},"content":{"rendered":"
Well it has been almost two years since I went to TJ to get my teeth worked on.\u00a0 At that time I first went down there for just 2 teeth, they found 4 more and offered me a deal to fix all 6. I was really, really torn as this kind of huge decision should take a bit of thinking before I jumped in, but with an almost 2.5 hour drive I had to decide RIGHT then.\u00a0 So I did it.\u00a0 I got it done.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Then months later one of their crowns pops off.\u00a0 In my busy life of single-momdom I’m trying to find the time to get back down to Tijuana to get it put back on, but with the three kids & a full time job my schedule is incredibly tight!\u00a0 And since I get paid by the hour and I’m barely making ends meet my tooth is a constant nag I manage to neglect.\u00a0 When I finally get to a local dentist she explains my gums have grown over the space and she can’t put the crown back on as she’s not equipped to surgically cut away gum.\u00a0 She also explains the problem with a crown that I never knew.\u00a0 They have to shave down the outside of your tooth to get a nice smooth fit.\u00a0 And so if there is extensive work on the inside sometimes there is not enough strong tooth to be such a support for a crown.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Wow.. I had no idea! In my 50 years, I’ve had TONS of cavities, crowns, root canals and I already had two implants.\u00a0 And through all that I still ate gum, popcorn, brushed and flossed and while I might have a filling pop off, never a crown.\u00a0 Until then.\u00a0\u00a0 I’m worried because I couldn’t tell if it was THEIR work or just serendipity.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Then I see on the TJ dentist (White Smile Center) website they offer a lifetime guarantee!\u00a0 Oh, but when I call to make an appointment to fix this crown they tell me the guarantee is not on the work “I” had done.\u00a0 No, I opted for the cheaper crowns, they tell me, and its not guaranteed.\u00a0 But the work has to get done & I trust they are still cheaper than a local dentist so I make an appointment.\u00a0 And this time I try the train to get there instead of driving.\u00a0 BIG mistake.\u00a0 While the train was relaxing and leisurely… the bus\/trolley to the border took almost another hour!\u00a0 Plus the stress of missing a train on the way home sucked!<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Once down in TJ I’m faced with getting a new crown and hope it stays on better or remove the tooth and put an implant in.\u00a0 But I’m armed with the knowledge from the local dentist that the tooth is pretty thin and it may not take and I want a permanent solution.\u00a0 So I opt for the removal and the implant.\u00a0 Which costs me another $1500.00.\u00a0 They try to talk me into paying for a sinus lift as the implant they want to put in there is too long.\u00a0 And the shorter one may not fit the size of the hole they’re planning on making.\u00a0 I say go for the shorter one and we’ll chance it.\u00a0 I can’t afford another $1000 for a lift!<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
So the process begins but this time I didn’t bring cash so I got to do something new.\u00a0 They tell me they want to send some pain killer and antibiotic home with me.\u00a0 I’m all, “Fine” and they say, well if you don’t have the cash you’ll have to go with our assistant to the pharmacy to buy it.\u00a0 I’m thinking…. what?\u00a0 You’ve shot me up with Novocaine and now I get to walk (WALK!) a few blocks down to stand there looking like an idiot while the girl translates what the pharmacists asks.\u00a0 No, I’m not uncomfortable at ALL!\u00a0 And this time, no one offers me lunch… but they DO manage to take a nice long siesta, while my Novocaine “takes” and of course they have to shoot me up again when they finally get back because that siesta was longer than an hour.\u00a0 Such a huge waste of time is really annoying to this Type A- personality.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Finally its done and they tell me I can’t blow my nose for 4 weeks! Cuz they DID do the sinus lift, which I didn’t approve.\u00a0 They hint “they can’t ask me to pay some they did it without my approval.. but….” \u00a0 *hopeful silence*\u00a0 “But no”, I say, they are eating the cost of that. The implant is in, but I have to go back in about 6 weeks to get the crown done while my body is integrating the bone grafting they put around it and my gums are healing from the cutting they had to do. And I’m worried about my other teeth cuz they had to hammer to break up the tooth and then hammer again to push the bone into the sinus lift it so there was enough space to fit the implant.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I now know how many hits to the head I can take.. hahahahaha\u00a0 Because it was “tap tap tAP TAP BANG” over and over again.\u00a0 My limit was 15 Bangs before I thought I was seeing stars.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
Overall it sucked. Having your mouth open for many straight hours kind of makes your jaw very achy! So in the recovery\u00a0 I have to exercise my jaw, but the stitches are also cutting the inside of the lip so I had to go for minimum movement for days & days!\u00a0 I was allowed to breathe thru the nose and sniffle but they don’t want excessive pressure on my sinuses like nose blowing. And they warn me not to hold in any sneezes hahaha\u00a0 I know they’re serious but it still feels comedic to be so conscious of nasal activity.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
As if that isn’t bad enough.. a few months later when I went to Coachella 2013 another one of their crowns popped off!!\u00a0 This time on the opposite side!\u00a0 I could barely eat on Day 3 because that’s a Sunday and there isn’t a dentists office open.\u00a0 Thankfully I found Jackson Dentist, a WONDERFUL place who took me in that Monday.\u00a0 They were surprised at the quality of the work on the crown as it didn’t fit and had a GAP!\u00a0 That’s why it most likely popped off.\u00a0 They cemented it back as best they could and when I phoned & emailed White Smile Center Tijuana Dentistry\u00a0 the x-rays from the Coachella dentist with the obvious gaps and said, “How can I trust you with the last cap or ANY work after this?\u00a0 Will you make it right?”\u00a0 what did they say?\u00a0\u00a0 “I’ll get back to you.”<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Not a peep from them since.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Different value system, I guess.\u00a0 I’m sticking with local dentists.\u00a0 Cuz if I’m going to drive 2.5 hours for dental work, I can do it in Indio and at least have a great night partying with the locals afterword!\u00a0 Sex God and Lover have practically a Party Posse out there!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well it has been almost two years since I went to TJ to get my teeth worked on.\u00a0 At that time I first went down there for just 2 teeth, they found 4 more and offered me a deal to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-just-ramblings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4106"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4296,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4106\/revisions\/4296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}