Dental visit in Granada

This is Mike...
Today, my daughters and I got dental exams and cleanings. I should have known something was out of place when Dr. Franco Estein had me sit down in his antique salon-style chair, while his trusty assistant was raising an antenna out of the roof. He kept murmuring, "Yes, yes, almost there, almost." My neck was stiff with anxiety. I finally I got the nerve to see if everything was OK. That's when the doctor said, "Moohoohaha, everything is wonderful, wonderful I tell you!" His assistant flipped a switched as the lightening bolt hit the antennae. I was unconscious for a while. As I slowly came out of my daze, I kept hearing excited voices say, "He's alive, he's alive!" I struggled to open my eyes and through the blurriness I saw my teeth on a monster. As my eyesight steadily gained clarity I realized I was looking in the mirror!
   Just kidding, the above didn't really happen. But when some people think of non-first world hospitals and dentistry they often think the worst. Well, I am happy to report all of my teeth are still with me, both in body and spirit, they are also cleaner than a Swiss whistle. Best yet, each kid had a cleaning for $30 while my exam and cleaning was $60. For what would have cost one of us to get the same treatment in the states, the three of us got the same care for less. This could be a compelling reason for some to travel for dentistry rather than stay at home. The husband and wife team that we visited do a full range of services and even bring specialists to their office if needed. The office was clean, half of the magazines in the waiting room were English and the other half Spanish. Both dentists learned their profession in Buenos Aires, Argentina under the watchful eyes of South America's best academies. Their worldliness was something to appreciate. In fact, they have other dentist friends in the states who want to return to Nicaragua because the costs of a practice have skyrocketed in recent years. If you are in the Granada area and need dental work I would not hesitate to recommend Dr. Erwin E. Chavez and wife (505) 2552-0664
   The girls and I were happy with our cleanings and I appreciated the affordability. How can it get any better? As for other medical needs and pharmaceutical costs, we have bumped into many people from the U.S. that had a variety of care done down here. For example, a volunteer at the girls school, from Oregon, had arthroscopic knee surgery in Managua and said cost and care were unbelievable. We have spoken with other retirees on heart medication that spend $900 a month in the U.S. versus spending a paltry $80 a month down here. If the care or medication were appreciably different then I would say, that explains it. However, care is care and you know when you are being helped or not, regardless of location. As for the pharmaceuticals in many cases they are the exact same items, just 90% cheaper. I am not going to delve into the issues of why, rather I want to encourage those of you looking for something different, to consider living something different. As the old saying goes, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step."

The office had a cool metal sculpture.

Zoe was all smiles in the chair.

Sierra was happy to get her teeth cleaned.

My ribs were still quite sore on my left side and they still managed to take great care of me.