02 June 2011

holey tijuana root canal

Avid readers will know of our now regular trips to the TJ dentist(a).
So off we went.

uh oh
sign of good times comin



























Again we walked across.
It's the best idea really,
there's no need to get Mexican car insurance,
or wait in the line to get in/out.

goin to Mexico




















It's hard to see but that line wraps around the curve.
This was about 4:00pm on wednesday,
so it's a normal occurence.

otay border crossing bottleneck




















This is why,
there are only 2 entry lanes!

Fortunately we have Eric/Pikachu as our guide to navigate us around.
Driving down there just doesn't interest me,
especially after getting dosed with local anesthesia etc.
If you do drivemake sure you get Mexican car insurance,
and all your lights work!

There may be a chance that we go down without his help,
and we suggested using a Tijuana Taxi.

tijuana taxi
(ripped pic)





















Tijuana Taxi built-up

Review 20100424 – Revell Monogram® Tijuana Taxi | Right On! Replicas

That would be fun.
But Eric suggested using the local "Taxi Libre".

Taxi Libre




















I guess this is the locals taxi.
There are "gold stripe" taxi's but they are more expensive.
If I ever have a taxi story I'll write about it!

These vans are all over the place too,
but take the scenic route.

TJ bus





















Ok,
let's get to the fun part.

what the hell did I get myself into...




















This is the Dentista's nephew, the endodontist.
You can tell from my clenched fist that I'm ready.

holey chit


You know,
usually I'll study things a bit beforehand.
See what I'm getting myself into.
I am so glad I didn't search "root canal" or "endodontic therapy" before coming.
I saw him lay out the tools and ... oh shit...



There is only one main nerve on each side of the lower jaw,
versus 16 for the top.
I think this syringe is WWII surplus.

tranquilo

He really juiced me up good,
but it would have been way better to be asleep right now.

what the...
I'm paying someone to do this?


Holee shitt.
I had seen my wife get her teeth ground up,
so my imagination was running wild.
The sounds and smell is something to behold.

After that he digs around.
I got a second injection after the top pulp was removed.
This was a really deep twisted root,
he said it was one of the toughest he'd done,
so he squirted a 3rd injection into the root core.

Mind you this was after I thought he was already finished.
Actually he was conferring with the Dentista as the files weren't long enough.
Puta Madre...


escape root



So he took an x-ray,
and bent the file to conform to the root path.
Pretty tricky.


special file

The goal is to dig out all the rotten parts,
and pull out any living nerve as well.

I swear I could feel that needle/file poking through the bottom of my jaw.

cha-ching - the heart

They call this the heart.
Now the tooth is unofficially dead.
After this a special disinfectant is added to kill anything else in there,
and some cotton and a paste fill up the hole.
Next week I gotta go back to finish it up.
Great.


taqueria

On the way back,
my jaw was still numb and I couldn't really eat.
We passed by a slew of taquerias,
and I was shooting taqueria pics from the car.

Ok,
note to self-
Don't accidentally or intentionally take pics of mexican police eating at a taqueria!
Less than 150 feet from our drop off point,
we got pulled over by the friggin cops.

not TJ cops


These are not the cops that pulled us over.
The TJ cops have big friggin automatic assault rifles,
and bulletproof vests 2 inches thick.
They also like mordidas!
After scaring the shit out of my wife,
it ended up costing us $20 and they also deleted the picture!

Second note to self -
Always bring small change and keep big money hidden just in case!

Ah wey.

We'll still go down,
but probably not take as many pictures!
Even with the payoff,
the price is still only a fraction of the US cost.


tijuana aint no picnic

Can't pass up throwing in a Grateful Dead song!
(just give them about 17 seconds to get out of space...
... it gets weird after 8:30)





When Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter were writing this song,
all bets are that they were just finishing up a TJ root canal...


Until next time...

TP

4 comments:

  1. "Night Guard". It is basically a 'football' style tooth guard that fits your teeth so that you don't grind them any more than you have. I used to work for a dental lab for 5 years building and shaping crowns and veneers, so I noticed your molars where almost flat. You grind your teeth in your sleep.

    Chris

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Chris -
    I think the pic was blurred by the mouthful of spit back there!
    My brother grinds his molars and he had them capped by the same dentist.
    I've got one of those guards,
    had a TMJ problem caused by chewing gum and scuba diving!
    Those guards test the gag reflex holy chit.

    I want gold crowns but they're pricey and she says whites better.
    What do you think?

    TP

    ReplyDelete
  3. White is good & with the price of Gold.....Wow! Those night guards do suck, I have 'bleaching' trays & they drive me crazy. The crazy thing about the dental industry is.....I used to shape/build crowns & veneers and they would charge the dentist $80 for non-precious metal & $130 for gold..and then the dentist would charge the consumer/insurance company $900-$1200. Talk about a mark up. I used to shape 30 plus crowns a day & one day my wife figured it up that I was making the company about a 1/2 million-1 million a year. Damn! And for what I was getting paid.....Hmmm....I guess that is why I don't do that anymore.

    Congrats on getting your "chompers" fixed. I used to love TJ (before the drug wars), but if you ever stop by the 'Bambi club', don't go in the back room.....haha.....I had a couple of buddies do that.

    Chris
    -sodbuster-

    ReplyDelete
  4. Smile Tijuana Dentistais the best one in the Tijuana and its much less than any other country.
    They offer the best offers with a great package with tremendous customer care. I have my smile
    back because of this dental care only. Improving the style is necessary and that’s what they
    are doing.
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    tijuana dentist
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    ReplyDelete