Just before we left for vacation in February one of my teeth started bothering me. I went to my dentist and discovered that I had an infection going in a tooth that had previously had a root canal. He gave me antibiotics, and the infection cleared up and wasn’t an issue while we were gone.

When I got back I visited an endodontist to see what could be done with the root canal tooth. Sometimes they can do some mildly awful procedure and it will be all right. Unfortunately, my tooth turned out to be cracked.

It needs to come out and have either a bridge or an implant. Dang.

So, I went back to my regular dentist yesterday for his diagnosis and to discuss my options. (Here’s where it starts to relate to Mexico, everyone.)

If I choose to do the bridge (which means crowns for the adjacent teeth and the fake tooth in the middle) here are my dentist’s prices:

Here’s what the prices are in Mazatlan at Mexican Dental Vacation:

I actually have a dentist recommendation in Mazatlan who I am going to call on Monday, so I don’t think I’ll use Mazatlan Dental Vacation. I just used their prices for a demonstration. I plan on making an appointment for when we are in town in May, and hopefully have this work done by my new Mazatlan dentist and save myself some big money.

Just for fun, my US dentist also gave me prices for:

From the Mazatlan Dental Vacation price list:

I know, these prices are horrifying – no matter where I get the work done. But the difference is really amazing to me.

The prospect of dental work is never a positive one, but at least with my Mazatlan plan I won’t have AS MUCH pain when I pay for it.