Dentist in Costa Rica

[LadyBoss]

Barbara218 wrote:

Ladyboss: You are ranting and raving and complaining so much that you are losing your credibility. "Me thinkest thou doth protest too loudly"

I
You know Barbara you happen to be right I should not have lowered myself.I was upset that Phil could just turn after me soeaking with him for over an hour on the phone I didn't have to do that I did it to help. I didn't have the same wants as all of you on this board and frankly I do not write that much on the board because
most of you are looking for something totally different I was very very concerned with cosmetic work I knew after meeting Anglada and
consulting with him what he wanted to do was not cosmetic Dr. Flikier did EXCATLY what I wanted and I am protective because he
changed my whole mouth my look and I never imagined a Dentist in CR
had it in them . You can judge me I don't really care I don't know you nor you I . Jerry and I have a relationship she can attest for my personality and manner.

I just felt Phil said one thing to me on the phone regarding my Dentist and on the board he seems to say another. My Dentist
charges more everyone that I sent to him knows why he charges more
it was worth the one or two thousand for me to be sure I would not have any problems ,,,I realized from my first visit to CR and meeting Dr. Anglada I was not impressed and was not looking for
the same treatment as a client as most of the people on the board are I know how important a Prostodontist is and I know the Lab and materials are a major part. I should have not lowered myself to reply to a Condo Commander such as Phil....
When someone makes a difference in your life at least I very protective and the nerve of that Phil to say no patients were at the office was a disservice to Dr. Flikier Phil should have just said he could not afford the price and that's it no judgements , jabs or snide remarks IMO I really cannot relate to this and limit my input

[Axetrotsky]

Expert wrote:

I used Dr. Mario Garita, saved $12,000 an got everything done. http://www.dentalimplantscr.com

I used Mario Garita and it cost me much more than it would have in the USA. I went to have my two wisdom teeth pulled and he talked me into having them crowned instead. Both crowns were defective. As I arrived at the airport to leave the next day a large piece fell off of one of the crowns.I called and he said to come back and he would fix it. I told him I would have to pay about 600$ for a return flight and asked hi to pay for my hotel. He refused. So I asked him to give me a free whitening and he refused that too. A month later a piece fell off of the second crown. When I finally returned 3 months later I was in the waiting room for two hours before I was taken to the dental chair. I spent another 3 hours in the chair watching him flirt with his assistants. I speak Spanish and evidently the assistants did not realize it. Although I am not sure it seemed as though one of them was having an affair with him.

[Aulie456]

seabone wrote:

Have found the best place for dental work in costa rica - and would like for you to call the owner, Mike Lomax, and find out what his dentists can do for you. It is smile90210costarica.com and the owner's name is Mike Lomax. My dentist there is Dr. Yelda Fernandez. She is a cosmetic and/or restorative dentist. My daughter will be going there in february for her necessary dental work & a friend for a complete mouth reconstruction.
Have had my own - whole mouth reconstructed in Zirkonzahn prettau - and my teeth are beautiful. Would be happy to send you a photo, if you like. Everything from the people, the dentists, the specialists - and the equipment & facilities are first class. You will receive state-of-the-art dentistry - 21st century style!
The clinic will offer you transportation to/from the airport & to & from your dental appointments & other necessary places.
If you have dental insurance, they'll likely reimburse you for the necessary work you do there.
We rent a condo from their friend Paul in a very nice, safe neighborhood. His e-mail is [e-mail].
You are on to something good! Best wishes!
<quoted text>

Seabone. Is there a way for me to contact you? I have a mb connection

[Wendell]

(has anyone stayed in the Cavallini accomodations ? They look clean, if a bit spartan.)

Hi Ziggy,

I was there right before Thanksgiving and thought the rooms were great - brand new with mini-fridge and flat screen TV. The Bath rooms were very nice also - I mean brand new is brand new. Besides that they had a majic jack phone out in the lobby that you could use to call the USA for free. However, to me the added value was the wonderful staff and the interaction with the other patients who were staying there. It was a great experience.

[ziggy]

( the added value was the wonderful staff and the interaction with the other patients who were staying there. It was a great experience.)

Thanks Wendell,

More than once I have decided to choose Cavallini when I read testimonies like yours, then I'm called off by others in direct conflict with "horror stories". Spoke w one dentist, whom everyone here seems to acknowledge as top notch. He spoke highly of anglada but hinted at problems w cavallini. It's ultimately a decision only we can make but it's more difficult with equally passionate testimonies on both sides of the issue. Thanks for yours nonetheless.

[Barbara218]

Wendell: The so-called worst dentists can have great outcomes from time to time (even a blind squirrel finds an occasional acorn), and once in a while, the very best dentists may have an implant that might not hold ... bottom line is, what is the track record of the dentist standing behind their work? If a problem arises, will they take care of it at their expense ... or will they balk, make excuses and then blow you off?
.
LadyBoss: Great service is worth extra, no question. And if you feel you got extra service for the extra money, then in reality you got a good deal.

[Jll]

Sometime I feel that this forum is run by Cavallini's staff, he is not the only dentist.

[Laura]

I am very interested in using Dr. Anglada for my husbands 1 implant. However, I can't figure out where he is located. The address online states "Sabana Sur,100 Sur de la Mc Donald`s Edificio amarillo" Where is this? In San Jose? Thank you for any help!

costel wrote:

<quoted text>
"Where did you find these names. Can you give me the link. I don't know Spanish, so I couldn't verify that. Also where I can find those 3 certified dental specialists.

[phil_p]

To the members of this site, I regret but do not apologize for my posting of comparative costs and objective observation of equipment between the CR dentists was in some twisted way responsible for unleashing the recent diatribe and petty attacks that wasted space on the site.

By and large this topic site has a professional demeanor, filled with excellent advice, information and truly heartfelt personal experiences. Fortunately, instances such as the recent ranting, ravings and sophomoric personal attacks using invented and/or paranoiac perceptions directed at this writer are few and far between. Such diatribes only serve to cast doubt on the author’s stability and, unfortunately, detract from the purpose and benefits available from this site and may ultimately stifle the free exchange of information.

All should be able to freely express factual, objective and subjective observations without being attacked by another who perceives that a different opinion is a “stabbed in the back” or that their “life choices” were demeaned when their recommendations and advice is considered but ultimately rejected?

I would hope we all can continue to keep our comments professional, informative, and agree to disagree in a friendly manner.

[jerry6665]

Laura wrote:

I am very interested in using Dr. Anglada for my husbands 1 implant. However, I can't figure out where he is located. The address online states "Sabana Sur,100 Sur de la Mc Donald`s Edificio amarillo" Where is this? In San Jose? Thank you for any help!
<quoted text>

hi,
in san jose, they don't use addresses like we do here in the states. they have things like '100 south from the yellow mcdonald's building' which is what that address online means. it's in san jose. my dentist's office is near the pizza hut. that's why i suggest that people get a business card from the dentist & hotels they use so they can show it to the cab drivers in case the driver isn't sure where the passenger is going. they usually know but... just in case.

have fun in c.r.

[Jet G]

Dr. Mario Garita in Escazu did my extensive dental work in 2008 and I have to say 2 years later I am still extremely satisfied. I am shy and kind of socially awkward and this Dr. is very nice, loud and outgoing, but he still made me feel comfortable around him. I am in my early 20's and he would call me a champion every time he completed a part of my dental work!
I don't understand why people say his prices are high because it didn't feel that way to me. I quoted several dentist and his prices were right around there with the rest of the dr.'s I got a quote from. As a matter of fact, I ended up paying about $1,500 less then he originally quoted me after consulting me in person and realizing I didn't need a dental implant.
I had suffered horrible tooth aches for years and finally after saving up money made the trip to Dr. Garita. I had all kinds of work done, extractions, implants, and many porcelain crowns. The work was very high quality, the crowns feel very good and still after almost 3 years have retained the same color, structure and smoothness as the first day. I am now pain free and have bright white smile to boot. lol. I know it sounds cheesy, but I am a very satisfied customer and am sad so many people have gone to Costa Rica and have not had the Success I had. I have saved up more money and this year I will be going to get some veneers, so my Hollywood smile can be complete!
Any questions or if you want to see pictures of the dental work Dr. Garita did email me at [e-mail]

[Bob]

The real question is if Dr. Garita did in fact recommend and do crowns on wisdom teeth, instead of extractions?(see #1425) To my knowledge, this is never done.

If in fact they were done, and both crowns did fail, this again is not good.

[phil_p]

Laura wrote:

I am very interested in using Dr. Anglada for my husbands 1 implant. However, I can't figure out where he is located. The address online states "Sabana Sur,100 Sur de la Mc Donald`s Edificio amarillo" Where is this? In San Jose? Thank you for any help!
<quoted text>

Laura,
San Jose is a sprawling area with a bunch of suburbs (formerly villages) much like any big US city. Anglada has 2 offices, one in Sabana that is an eastern suburb of San Jose proper, maybe 5 miles from downtown San Jose. The other is in Santa Ana in the central district of Lindora even more easterly, say 15 -20 miles but don’t hold me to it. He’s only in this office on Thursdays, at least that’s what he told me.

Hwy 27 (the Prospero Fernandez Hwy) seems to be one of the main drags in “San Jose” and runs through Sabana and right past the McDonalds and his office is indeed 100m south of it on the corner. You can probably find it on Google Maps. And all hotels have maps. Anglada’s driver will pick you up at the airport as will other dentists. I wouldn’t suggest driving yourself around town as the traffic is abominable and streets confusing even if you could finds their names.

As ‘Jerry6665’ stated they use weird addresses in CR. If the McDonalds every moved, everyone in the area would have to reprint their business cards.

[Bob]

Heads up for everyone.

If you are having questions about where is the dental clinic or what to expect or almost any aspect of your dental work - email or call the dental clinic. If you can't get answers to questions from the clinic in a timely manner, I would consider this a problem.

The first thing I would always do before I even sent dental information is request a price list. Then and only then would I discuss my actual dental situation.

This is not to mean that I would base decisions on price, rather, this just helps you discover how willing a dental clinic is to share information.

[Jet G]

Bob wrote:

The real question is if Dr. Garita did in fact recommend and do crowns on wisdom teeth, instead of extractions?(see #1425) To my knowledge, this is never done.
If in fact they were done, and both crowns did fail, this again is not good.

I am glad you brought that up because my wisdom teeth needed to be extracted when I went to Dr. Garita and he did just that. Never recommended anything but extraction for my wisdom teeth, among a few others. With the internet it's so hard to prove anything which is why I still have all of my information with pictures, receipts, etc.

[LadyBoss]

phil_p wrote:

To the members of this site, I regret but do not apologize for my posting of comparative costs and objective observation of equipment between the CR dentists was in some twisted way responsible for unleashing the recent diatribe and petty attacks that wasted space on the site.
By and large this topic site has a professional demeanor, filled with excellent advice, information and truly heartfelt personal experiences. Fortunately, instances such as the recent ranting, ravings and sophomoric personal attacks using invented and/or paranoiac perceptions directed at this writer are few and far between. Such diatribes only serve to cast doubt on the author’s stability and, unfortunately, detract from the purpose and benefits available from this site and may ultimately stifle the free exchange of information.
All should be able to freely express factual, objective and subjective observations without being attacked by another who perceives that a different opinion is a “stabbed in the back” or that their “life choices” were demeaned when their recommendations and advice is considered but ultimately rejected?
I would hope we all can continue to keep our comments professional, informative, and agree to disagree in a friendly manner.

Phil :
If you need to direct something to me you have my emailed you did email you called me when it was convient for you after you USED
mr for information you are now calling my responses diatribes
whatever I wrote about Anglada was true for me and I still believe you get what you pay for I encourage everyone seeking a Dentist to go to both offices Anglada's and Flkier's that is the only way
someone might see for themselves by you writing one thing and I another is hear say I just feel you used my time when it was convient for you and the way you wrote the person read as if you were putting down my Dentist and he has made a difference for me and I would pay anything he asked DO NOT BULLY me PHIL
you are supposed to be a MAN and have respect for women and their
opinions my stability, Phil I run a company I am very well known in
my community I have referred countless clients to Flikier and this will be my last email addressing this matter do not use your condo commander bullying on me that's it. You chose a cheaper dentist so
what I still no matter what stand by my choice and encorage those of you seeking high quality to visit Dr. Flikier he is IMO very educated , great bedside manner and taught in the US . I use his
Professor in Florida for my cleanings and he is well thought of . Phil for you to make a remark about not seeing patients waiting I work the same way my appointments are booked in a way that you are
made to feel like you are the only one that will get my attention for the whole time booked and most people value that in a business
I don not know what happened to you I have been on this board for a
year and now you are bashing me when I tried helping you that says something about your character whenever you write something you bring my Dentist's name into the mix for some reason and I will
defend him because he is GREAT yes he is more money and truthfully he has a much different clientele and I tey to avoid referring people such as yourself only concerned about money rather than quality Anglada to me was not quality he scared me with
what he wanted to do and his prices changed and I am not the only one that had that experience so everytime you bring up a remark that is not true I will challenge you Phil stop being ungrateful I spent a lot of time trying to help you please have a little respect if you have anything further to write to me and about me be a respectful person and email me you have my number now let's just let it go you are really something else these are the kind of clients I do not refer to my Dentist we don't want them people on this board already vouched for my credability your a mature man stop

[LadyBoss]

Jet G wrote:

<quoted text>
I am glad you brought that up because my wisdom teeth needed to be extracted when I went to Dr. Garita and he did just that. Never recommended anything but extraction for my wisdom teeth, among a few others. With the internet it's so hard to prove anything which is why I still have all of my information with pictures, receipts, etc.

Bob:

I am so glad you mentioned what you did I was supposed to meet with Dr. Garita I moved hotels and he tracked me down and that spooked me alittle I canceled my appt. thanlk goodness sorry you
used him I hope your issues are fixed

[jerry6665]

hi all,

to jll.... while a lot of folks do write about cavallini, it's because they loved his work and it lasts a long time. others on this blog write about their choices, as well. if you read the hundreds of entries on this blog, you'll see many dental offices mentioned.

just to be clear, jll, i'm a headhunter in the los angeles, california area. i have no dog in the hunt of who goes to what dentist anywhere. i'm not on anyone's payroll but my own as i own the company in l.a.

i've done pretty extensive research for myself on costa rican dentists because the first one i chose was a crook. he jacked up his estimate while i was sitting in the chair my first day. and, you're right, there ARE many dentists who are not mentioned on this blog. that doesn't mean they haven't been discussed in private. the 'crook' has been mentioned here, as well, but i've never named him/her.

as most of the folks who have written me personally will tell you, i have also written about what i learned, good, bad and indifferent, about the 60 or so dentists i checked out while actually IN costa rica. that includes almost all that are mentioned on this blog and many that aren't. i rarely say anything bad or negative on the blog because most dentists in c.r. are at least competent, maybe not great, but competent.

of the ones i visited and whose work i checked out IN the mouths of their patients (not in photoshopped pix), i found superior work in patients' mouths of about 7 dentists, as i've said before. when i go back down this year, i'll check out flikier as he's the only one i haven't yet who is mentioned on this blog or in private.

i've spent several months in c.r. researching other things as well. my actual fun in c.r. is finding things to do and places to go that aren't on the typical 'tourist' itinerary. these include adventuring and ecotourism. although i talk about the dentists on this blog, off this blog, i tell visitors to c.r. of things they can do for fun, how to save money while doing everything they want to do and how to get the most out of their trips!

tooth-y talk is only interesting to folks before they head for the land of macaws and the croc man. when you get home, your friends will quickly tire of hearing about boring implants, crowns, etc., so having adventures will make you the envy of all your friends.

i hope you'll love the entire country, too, not just your choice of dentists!

[skmax]

It's been a while since I've posted - quite busy since my return from C.R.(thanks for the Christmas ecards, friends!) Dr. Anglada did a fabulous job on my full mouth bone grafts,(1) sinus lift,(2)of(10)implants,(1)root canal (Dr. Tabash did this)& temp crowns in Nov 2010. Dr.'s Rajo & Moreno worked 5 hours to "sculpt" the full-arch temp crowns (upper & lower)to "perfect my bite". My experience was wonderful w/the A Team. Not a single problem whatsoever- particularly considering mine is a full mouth restoration. I did EXTENSIVE research regarding dental methods, bone grafting materials used, crowns, etc before I chose Dr. Anglada - I assure you he uses the BEST on the market. I had work done in both of his offices - excellent technology, very clean, etc. I stayed at Hotel LaSabana (GREAT!!) altho I walked to Hotel Cristina to check it out - it's excellent as well. The "legal" cabs were just fine -$2 fare to Dr. A's La Sabana office. I never felt in danger, at all, & I was traveling alone-90% of the residents I met spoke English...& I met several other dental patients at Hotel LaSabana. Even my temp teeth received many compliments over the holidays here - & trust me, I ate everything in sight. My U.S. dentist's office is more than impressed with the work done. I'm due back for 8 more implants in May/June. Then I must wait for these to osseointegrate into the bone for ~ 4-6 months - then the final crowns. I saw zirconium crowns while I was there - very impressive.

[vicki]

does anybody know what the price differences are (approximate of course) between porcelain crowns and zirconium? is it like double the price or just somewhat more? i know i don't have to make that decision just yet as i haven't had my first appointment yet, but starting to give zirconium some thought after looking at pictures...