How do you find a superb dentist in
Mexico?
The short answer is that you call
Doctor Ma. de Lourdes Sánchez Carranza in Mexico City, (011 from the
USA) +52 55 5662 9033, or 011+52 55 6552 4915.
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| Dra. Lourdes Sánchez |
Other contact details are:
Dra. Ma de Lourdes Sánchez Carranza
Manuel M. Ponce 255-101
Col. Guadalupe Inn
01020 México D.F.
México
She gave me comprehensive dental care in Mexico City during the last three weeks and was by far the best dentist I have ever experienced in my 71 years in the US and Canada. I had two root canals, four crowns, five fillings and a cleaning for about $3,500 US Dollars all included, which is one third of what the work would have cost me in the US. Her father was a prominent dentist before her and her son is continuing their tradition. People make return visits even from France to have her do their implants. She uses the best materials and explains everything.
The long answer to the question of how you find a superb dentist in Mexico is that you must do a lot of homework and research. It's very much like a sociologist doing social research.
I was very lucky in that I have a sister who has lived in Mexico for thirty-five years, a sister who is deeply embedded in a network of intelligent, observant, experienced friends who knew Dra. Sánchez and her work. They had no second thoughts about saying that she is the best.
There are many places on the Internet where you can get information about dentists, dentistry, and “dental tourism” in Mexico, such as www.dentaldepartures.co and www.holidaydental.ca and by simply Google-searching some phrase like “dentists mexico.” But you can't rely on those Internet sources and reviews because they may be written by people who have atypical experiences or who are not astute, critical observers.
The quality of the observer is often mistakenly less considered than the N, the number of observations, and less considered than the sampling procedure. I once had a critic roughly describe this principle thus: “I have never laid an egg but I can tell you more about it than a thousand chickens can.” It's clear that if you really want to know the truth of what's going on, you need to get a small number of highly skeptical, intelligent, acute observers around the dinner table.
It goes without saying that you can't trust the advertizing of the dentists themselves or even the recommendations of dentists themselves. One of the characteristics of any profession is the tenet that all of its members are competent, and thus it is “unprofessional” to speak negatively of any other of its members.
US medicine in general, including dentistry, is a little bit arrogant as well as overpaid. The US ranks below about thirty-six other countries in the major health indicators despite all the arrogance and high cost. I have heard in the US many comments in this and other contexts that “You get what you pay for.” It's like an old folk saying or something. It is sometimes true, yes, but it is probably less often true than false in this era in the USA, particularly in medicine and dentistry and Wall Street.
Lodging: I was lucky in being able to stay with my sister, but in a city of nine million people like Mexico City, it only takes a little searching to find some reasonable place to stay. I notice that some Recreational Vehicle enthusiasts go to Mexico during the cold weather and get their dental work done then. And there is the additional benefit of seeing this old, historic, city and country.
The People: Every country has its different strengths and weaknesses, good dentists and bad dentists, and so on. But I submit that one of Mexico's strengths is the humanity of its people. The bottom-line-money religion, the hard-edge but hidden greed, the unspoken social darwinism, that was so characteristic of my last four US dentists was exactly the opposite of Dra. Sánchez's open-hearted helpfulness and kindness. Kindness is surely ultimately not separated from competence.
