Dr. Franco of Los Algodones, Mexico

     If you are planning on going to Mexico for dental surgery because it is much cheaper, please reconsider. I went to Los Algodones for dental implants in April 2010. I had previously decided on one and went there to meet them. They said they could do the surgery after lunch. My friend and I went to eat lunch one door down. A "personal shopper" named Alan starting talking to us, trying to convince us that the place I had chosen was no good. He convinced my friend and I that Dr. Franco was the best dentist for dental implants. Well first he said there were only three to choose from and he took me to all of them. His tone was sincere and personable, but the truth is that each of those three dentists were offering him money to bring in business.
     The one I decided on (out of the three) couldn't start until the next day and many of the dentist there do same day surgery. So he said Dr. Franco was just finishing work but he could do it. So we walk over and Dr. Franco is just leaving in his brand new yellow Camero. Alan pulls him over and he says he will come back to work and do it.

     I go in to the small room while my friend waits in the lobby. He spoke little English so his receptionist did a little talking at first. He was wearing his street clothes and put on some gloves. He didn't look too much at the panoramic extra I had just gotten and just started working on my gums. Half way through, something was wrong and his friends had come into watch. Dr. Franco was looking for something and his two buddies tried to help. One of them put his ungloved hand on the tray Dr. Franco was using. The sutchering took longer than  the two implants. I was oblivious to the fact that he had pocked a whole through my gum. The ordeal was overwhelming and painful. This is my face a couple days later. People said it didn't even look like me.

     I had a partial denture in that he told me to leave in or the swelling would not allow me to put it in. I was unable to see what my gums really looked like. When one has dental implants, first the implant made of titanium are put in and then 6 months later abutements are put on and fake teeth attached.

     To make this story shorter, here is a letter I wrote to Dr. Franco after I had surgery done to take the implants out after a couple infections and rejection.

    

D.D.S Auturo Franco
Complete Dental Care
#192, B Ave.
Los Algodones, B.C.
Mexico

September 9, 2010

Dear Dr. Franco,

I traveled from Canada to have dental implants done by you on April 5 2010; the central and lateral incisor. Alan P referred me to you as the BEST implant specialist in Los Algodones, Mexico. As I have learned since then, my gums were too thin and receded for the operation. Certainly a learned man with your education would have realized this and should have at least explained to me what the consequences might be to carry on with the surgery. You did not discuss anything with me concerning the implant process and began the surgery immediately. You had a panorama x-ray of my mouth and that was it.
    

Unfortunately, I now have to undergo many procedures to rectify the situation with my gums. Dr. William Liang has suggested along with the current treatment plan, that I will need gum reconstructive surgery. The gums are now disfigured, for example: an indentation where the lateral incisor gum had a hole that you could see the implant through. This not only means more surgeries and pain, but much expense.

It was necessary to have both implants removed along with a cyst caused by the infection...

Here the blood is coming out of the whole in my gums.

         So this is my warning to anyone going to Mexico. Be careful who you choose, saving money isn't everything.

                              Sincerely,

                                     Kristen S