This is my pre-op infected tooth. The penultimate one. It doesn´t look bad here, but it HURT! OUCH!
So I decided on Dr. Catalina Mendez, because we pretty much blindly follow our ´gringo bible´AKA our Lonely Planet travel book. We called on Monday evening, and they said they could take me the next day at 10:30am.
How awesome is that?
It took us about 3 hours to find the office, because the ´gringo bible´printed the wrong address. But we finally got there and Dr. Catalina´s husband, Carlos Pasada, took me in immediately. This is him:
He didn´t speak any English so Lewis and Ryan translated the whole time.This is where they sat/stood:
And sometimes when Carlos was out, they helped with the procedure!
Carlos called up his wife, Catalina, to see if she could come do the root canal. She said, "claro," and appeared within 15 mins. Catalina spoke English, well sort of, but good enough that she didn´t need the services of Lehe & Morrison Translations Unltd. As Lewis already mentioned, she was pretty hot for a 40-some year old. And she really knew what she was doing, she moved faster than any denist I´ve ever seen and I´ve seen a lot. Probably due to the nuns whipping her wrists at her Catholic University (i´m catholic so i can make that joke).
Here is her degree:
The actual ´canaling of the root´ took about an hour. Oh, and the X-Ray equipment was really awesome. There was a computer screen that showed a live feed that I could watch, as if I was getting a sonogram. She told me that she´d send me my X-Rays via e-mail the next day. How awesome!
Here is my post-op xray. Notice the 4 rubber fillings now living in the space of my infected nerve roots.
After it was all done, we chatted for awhile and we got a picture.
*In love*
In total, including the root canal, the subsequent crowning, and the antibiotic prescription it cost about $290. And they did it all in one day, after only calling about 12 hours ahead. According to wikipedia in the US this would have cost (without the prescription) between $500-$2000. Interesting eh? If anyone is considering serious dental work, think about taking a vacation to Colombia. It´s quite beautiful.
from Catalina:
NEIL I HOPE YOU ARE FEELING BETTER, I AM SENDING YOU THE ITINIAL AND FINAL XRAY OF YOUR TREATMENT, HAVE A NICE TRIP ANYTHING YOU NEED YOU CAN CALL ME OK???
--
CATALINA MENDEZ DE LA ESPRIELLA
ENDODONCIA
PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDAD JAVERIANA
The post-op xray isn't showing up... but hot dentist. I can say that because I'm colombian.
Dr. Catalina digs the gringo in vest. Oh sweet lady of age.