Yuma

We’ve enjoyed our stay in Yuma, parked with Bob & Molly Pinner on Keith & Donna Green’s lot in the Foothills. It’s a very large lot, with full 50 Amp hookups on both sides.

Larry & Marilyn Forbes were parked on another lot in the same general area, and came over for happy hour. Molly looks like she’s really happy!

The Forbes’ car suffered a big owie in Quartzsite when it encountered a mustard-yellow VW bus, which left more than just a mark! Ouch!

Shadow’s always happy to see Marilyn.

The neighbor, Helen, came over and helped spoil Shadow a little more.

One evening we went to Das Bratwurst Haus with Jo & Pete Peters, Bob & Molly, and Larry & Marilyn and had yummy German food. The beer was pretty good, too.

Another day we met a bunch of Escapees friends for lunch.

And we had another happy hour for the RV Full-timers Class of ‘07 with lots of goodies for Molly’s birthday.

Molly got an early birthday present from Bob.

Molly’s excited! (I think Bob is, too!)

The main reason we came to Yuma was to get my dental work done in Algodones, Mexico The first consultation made me realize that I needed extensive work to replace several fillings and crowns, including some on my front teeth, and I learned that the bite was set wrong on the implants I had done a couple of years ago in Naco, Mexico (I never did think they were right).

So I decided to go for a simple solution to everything, including finally getting rid of the permanent stain on my front teeth from spending part of my childhood in Lubbock, TX. The solution, although simple, was a little drastic as viewed by some of my friends. The process was to remove all of the crowns and drill down all of the natural teeth and put new crowns on all 27 teeth! And the savings was incredible over doing the same thing in the U.S. A dentist in Benson wanted $1,000 to replace one crown that had broken. The dentist in Mexico did this entire job for $6,500!

Here’s a recent picture as the “before.”

Here’s the “after.” Not much difference at first glance, except whiter. And I’ll have a lot fewer dental problems now!

It took only two visits to the dentist (after the initial consultation) for the whole procedure, about 2.5 hours for the first one and 3.5 hours for the second. However, I was experiencing some pain in my left jaw so I returned one more time for a bite adjustment, which only took a few minutes.

The dentist, Jorge Jimenez “Dr. George,” was educated in Mexico, but he completed a graduate extension course on implants at Harvard University. He speaks fairly good English, and several assistants speak very good English and can translate when needed.

There’s still some sensitivity, but I’m eating normally again (darn – hoped I’d lose a few lbs over this!) and sleeping well.