Vandy Needs Dental Help
Donation protected
I am a self-employed artist with limited dental coverage. Because I have chronic migraines bad enough to send me to the emergency room, my teeth have suffered from clenching my jaws when I'm in pain, and I now have many cracked and several broken teeth, which in turn add to my headaches and have impacted my ability to chew food and eat well. I need to get at least two crowns, and more likely six or seven.
Two weeks ago the situation became urgent as one of my broken teeth became infected, causing mouth pain and making it impossible for me to chew. A round of antibiotics has temporarily helped the situation, but I need to get root canals and crowns on my two broken teeth soon. I also am at risk of breaking additional teeth and exposing nerves as long as my cracked teeth remain untreated.
Rather than try to get this done in the United States, which is prohibitively expensive, I plan on traveling to Los Algodones, Mexico, a dental tourism location just over the border from Yuma, AZ. The town caters to retirees and others, like me, who have inadequate dental coverage. My dental coverage will only pay for "extractions" or removing teeth, rather than putting crowns on them. This would leave me with one molar, so not even enough teeth to chew on.
Dental procedures in Los Algodones, on average, cost around 1/3 of what they do in the United States. I won't know exactly how much travel, lodging, and dental expenses will cost ahead of time, but at a minimum I want to get my two worst teeth worked on, and ideally I would like to get as many as possible fixed while I'm down there rather than having to plan a future trip and find additional funds. I also risk breaking cracked teeth as long as they remain untreated, which could land me right back in immediate pain and without the ability to chew food easily.
In addition to providing relief from pain, dental treatment will also allow me to work without having to take additional opiate pain killers (as I am allergic to NSAIDS), allow me to drive myself places (which I can't do on pain medication), and better support myself without being as much of a burden on my family and loved ones.
Two weeks ago the situation became urgent as one of my broken teeth became infected, causing mouth pain and making it impossible for me to chew. A round of antibiotics has temporarily helped the situation, but I need to get root canals and crowns on my two broken teeth soon. I also am at risk of breaking additional teeth and exposing nerves as long as my cracked teeth remain untreated.
Rather than try to get this done in the United States, which is prohibitively expensive, I plan on traveling to Los Algodones, Mexico, a dental tourism location just over the border from Yuma, AZ. The town caters to retirees and others, like me, who have inadequate dental coverage. My dental coverage will only pay for "extractions" or removing teeth, rather than putting crowns on them. This would leave me with one molar, so not even enough teeth to chew on.
Dental procedures in Los Algodones, on average, cost around 1/3 of what they do in the United States. I won't know exactly how much travel, lodging, and dental expenses will cost ahead of time, but at a minimum I want to get my two worst teeth worked on, and ideally I would like to get as many as possible fixed while I'm down there rather than having to plan a future trip and find additional funds. I also risk breaking cracked teeth as long as they remain untreated, which could land me right back in immediate pain and without the ability to chew food easily.
In addition to providing relief from pain, dental treatment will also allow me to work without having to take additional opiate pain killers (as I am allergic to NSAIDS), allow me to drive myself places (which I can't do on pain medication), and better support myself without being as much of a burden on my family and loved ones.
Organizer
Vandy Ælfgifu Hall
Organizer
Wilsonville, OR
