One night last week, Evan came flying into our room at about 3am screaming about the pain in his tooth. After some tylenol and a bit of sleep we managed to track down a dentist in Progreso who came highly recommended. There are actually quite a few but we ultimately chose Dr. Paola. She is with ProDens and speaks English which is a great thing. I stopped in with Evan to see her and make an appointment. I was very impressed with the little office and after talking to her on the phone (she was not in the office but her assistant quickly called her) and made an appointment for the following day at 5:30pm. One thing, when trying to find a dentist in Progreso their office hours all seem to be from 8am-12pm in the morning then back again around 4pm-8pm for the final half of the day. Even dentists in their air conditioned buildings need their afternoon siesta!

After a couple of brief questions and filling out an information form for Evan, she brought him to the back room to take a look at his tooth. Very quickly after looking in his mouth she took pictures of his teeth and proceeded to explain to us in very plain English what was happening with the tooth. She told us what she could do and gave us the options and the prices. For Evan’s pulpotamy (root canal on a non-permanent tooth, his molar) it would cost 1200 pesos for the procedure and then another 500 pesos for the final filling ($127.39 CDN).

Due to the infection in his tooth, she has put a temporary filling on it for now and he is due to return on Wednesday for the final filling after she double checks the tooth and the infection. She froze the area with lidocaine on a cotton swab first and then double checked with Evan to ensure it was frozen before using her ‘computer’ to freeze the area. She promised him that this would not hurt and he finally believed her. The ‘computer’ she was referring to was an electronic device with a needle on the end which dispenses the anesthetic. However, this device detects the body temperature and makes sure the liquid is heated to match his body temperature making it a pain free injection.

Evan had just had a very painful experience at his dentist before leaving Calgary and had vowed to never return to a dentist ever again. However, once he met Dr. Paola she helped him understand the procedure and then we asked him what he would like to do. Of course his first answer was he would just like to go home, but he finally decided to have the root canal done as this would save his tooth for a period of time which was very important. He was scared that she would be pulling his tooth, which had happened before with no freezing so he was very apprehensive.

Dr. Paola was very good with Evan and answered every one of his questions and Evan certainly had a lot of questions. She could not move without him asking her what she was holding, or doing, or looking at! It has been four days since she worked on his tooth and he is on anti-inflammatory and anti-biotic right now and seems to be doing well. Evan’s brother is allergic to penicillin so when giving us the prescription she very carefully found drugs that were penicillin free just in case. On the way home from the dentist we stopped by at one of the corner farmacias and within a minute we had the prescriptions filled and were on our way home again. Evan ate dinner with us, which I must say was a fantastic pasta with prawns that I just whipped up when we got home!

Overall we were very happy with our first experience with the dentistry here in Progreso. The office was clean and very well organized. There was a tv for the patient to watch while reclined, posters on the wall geared to both children and adults. I would definitely recommend Dr. Paola to anyone but like anything, please do your own research when choosing your dentist.

Dr Paola GPE Buenfil Heredia, C.D.E.O with ProDens