The high cost of dental care in the Washington DC area has kept me from doing the kind of dental care I would do if there were affordable resources for many years now.
I first went to El Salvador with the Peace Corps in 1999. I ending up staying there for over three years. During that time I taught English in the capitol, San Salvador where several of my students were dentists. After awhile we were trading dental care for English lessons. I agreed to do this because I found that the quality of care and the level of available technology used in El Salvador far surpassed any I have ever used in my home city of Boston, Eugene OR where I studied as an undergraduate, Chapel Hill NC where I got my graduate degree, or Washington, DC where I have lived for many many years. This is as surprising to me to say as it is to hear!
In 2005, I invested in a piece of property in a working class neighborhood where my Salvadoran family lived. In recent years they have been doing better financially. They called me last summer to say they could get refinanced and could pay me back for the land, so I planned to go down and do the transaction during the winter, planning to catch up with my dental care.
I went down on February 3rd, 2011 and found a wonderful boutique hotel, the Escalon Plaza Hotel located at 89th Ave Norte, Numero 141. The hotel was designed as a private home by Salvador's equivalent of Frank Lloyd Wright, Ernesto de Sola, in 1970. It features 25 rooms, some with balconies that face the garden and swimming pool, as well as warm and courteous staff, excellent cable service and free wireless internet. I paid $35 per night, a bargain by any measure with value added by the made-to-order breakfast served poolside in the garden and the location in one of the capitol's safest neighborhoods, Colonia Escalon. The hotel is located one block off Paseo Escalon, the neighborhood's main arterial.
Paseo Escalon boasts a high concentration of dentists, medical specialties and a small hospital, Hospital de Diagnostico Escalon in addition to many banks, boutiques, and restaurtants. I returned to my former dentist, Dra. Claudia Bonilla to catch up on much needed dental work. Her office is located in the Villas Espanolas Unit D-7. Her phone number is 011 503 2264 4343. (Please note that Central America, generally, has moved their telecommunications to a system that adds a 2 to a land line and 7 for a cell phone, preceding the exchange and number.) She speaks English well and is a graduate of the internationally reknown Dental program at the Universidad de Monterrey en Nuevo Leon, MX with over 10 years in practice.
After analysis and imaging of my condition, she proposed a complete restoration of my mouth. I knew this would be a big job since I have fillings in all my molars and have 2 crowns. I work hard at taking care of my teeth by flossing & brushing regularly and using Listerine daily. While she said my hygene was exemplary and my gums were in excellent condition, she noted that all existing amalgam and ineffective resin fillings needed replacing and my two crowns needed to be redone.
The final talley was 12 molar caps @ $330, underlain by 12 bases @ $60, one crown @$330, post for crown $120, one extraction @$120, one implant @$1550 and other small ancillary preparatory procedures. Total cost:$7550. From experience both shared and personal, I know that this would cost a kings ransom in the states. In 1998 in DC, I paid $1200 for the crown that will soon be an implant. I checked with a dentist in Fairfax County VA on the current cost of implants: $3200 (I doubt that includes the maxiofacial surgery necessary to prepare the site.)
You may ask any further question regarding my procedures and other specialists or accomodations in the Escalon area of San Salvador. I will be happy to provide further information. I found my experience to be excellent all around. Safe, affordable and enjoyable!
