On the border with the United States, the city of Los Algodones receives thousands of Americans looking for dental care
Nancy Nelson is afraid of a dentist. Once it was so nervous that his jaw even moved. But 25 years ago – today he is over 60 years old – who went to the dentist of Los Algodone, Mexico, and has no longer had this problem.
“They are very kind, affectionate and attentive to my fear,” he said while waiting in the immigration line to return to the United States.
Los Algodone is a small Mexican city of 10,000 inhabitants on the border with the United States, where one in ten inhabitants is a dentist. The information is confirmed by the mayor, Herminia Marín, who is also a dentist.
“The city is known as the world capital of dentists or the city of the teeth.”
Between three and five thousand Americans visit the city every day to go to the dentist, but also to take margarite, eat some tacos and dance some songs.
Nancy lives in Cleveland, a Wisconsin village located about 3,000 kilometers from Los Algodone. In the first months of the year, the temperature reaches 0 degrees Celsius. There are snow storm reports. At the same time, the temperature of the algodoni of Los is greater than 15 degrees, which attracts many pensioners such as Nancy and her husband, Bruce.
“We flew from Arizona here, rented a car, we were some nights, we went to the dentist, spared thousands of dollars and we still enjoyed a holiday,” says Bruce.
It is common, especially during the winter, to see the Americans who move south of the country, stopping their cars in giant parking lots and crossing the border on foot to enter Algodoni di Los.
They are called in a local jargon “Los Ángeles de la Nieve”, or “migratory birds”, which in Portuguese translation would be something similar to “Snow Angels” or “Migration Birds”.
They are tourists who leave Mexico with a bright smile, fascinated by the hospitality of the waiters and dentists. A migratory flow that reveals how it was – and how it was for decades – the cultural interaction between Mexicans and Americans, despite a wall of about 10 meters that can be seen from any point in the city.
From cotton producers to dentists
Los Algodone, as the name suggests, was an epicenter of the cotton industry that developed in northern Mexico during the twentieth century, had its maximum of the Second World War, which increased the demand for fiber and decreased since the 1970s.
Although cotton plantations are still seen in the region, in recent decades the economy of the border has turned into services that could meet northern needs.
“All northern Mexico cities, without exception, receive a huge volume of requests for medical services in the United States, sometimes promoted by the pharmaceutical industry,” said José Zavala, engineer and specialist in development at the College of La Frontera, Tijuana, Mexico.
“It turns out that in Los Algodones this is more evident because it is a small city and because, in this region, north of the border, there is a great concentration of pensioners,” he explains.
The interaction between northern Mexico and the southern United States is historical, deeply rooted, almost structural. Millions of families have grown on both sides. Until the 70s, the Nordist could cross the border without a passport. What happened in Algodoni Los is an example of a longtime commercial and cultural relationship.
A relationship that is placed with Donald Trump in the Presidency of the United States, its last approach to immigrants and mexican import taxes. But the one at the historical root is difficult to break.
“Rates are an obstacle, but the economic relationship is very difficult to break,” says Zavala.
Carlos Rubio was one of the first dentists of Los Algodone in the 80s. Born in Sinaloa, western Mexico, he moved to the border to try his luck and came across a request for dental services, which made him specialize and assemble an office, which is now a sophisticated clinical dentist.
During a walk, I asked him what kind of smile he is preferred among the customers and then one of his advisers, of Venezuelan origin, interrupted laughter. “The Gringos are obsessed with a discolored white smile, as if it had used bleach.”
Rubio, who lives in Yuma, Arizona, and crosses the border every day at work, believes that “the United States health system is not social”.
“Of the 300 million inhabitants, about 60% do not have a dental insurance or have partial coverage. This represents between 80 and 160 million people with poor coverage. That is, there are between 80 and 160 million opportunities for us.”
According to the American Dental Association, a third of adults, between 19 and 64 years old, does not have a dental insurance, despite having medical insurance. The vast majority of dental insurance covers nothing more than cleaning or control.
Consequently, most of the United States has no other option than to spend tens of millions of dollars. Or go to Los Algodone.
The problem of dental insurance in the United States
Roger Graves is a war veteran who lives in Florida. He came with his wife and daughter for the fourth time in Los Algodone to treat his teeth. This time, they remained for some nights in the city and the row to cross the border with bags, between street vendors of crafts and Mexican foods.
“I have medical insurance to be a veteran, but it does not include dental care and since my income is retired, just like my wife, this option is very good for us,” he says.
According to the bass accounts, he spared between 67% and 75% going to the algodoni Los to make a dental treatment.
“The American medical system must be solved, it is very expensive,” he says, a complaint that has been repeated by all the interviewees.
“It is a swollen system, just a little,” Spinler said June, which comes from the state of Iowa, in the Midwest of the United States, but spends winters in the south of the country.
Juan Ramón Soto, a Mexican farmer, who has American citizenship, adds: “I can extract all the teeth here and put it back that it will come out even cheaper than tear a tooth in the United States”.
The lack of price regulation, the fragmentation of the system, the power of pharmaceutical products and administrative costs, among other reasons, make the US health system the most expensive in the world.
Mexico also has serious problems, but the northern region of the country has developed a modern infrastructure with experts who have been able to benefit from the United States demand.
And all this is done with the typical Mexican hospitality: they are looking for you on the border with golf trolleys, they take in the office and then they leave you in one of the outdoor food squares where you can eat a little crash, have a margaritis and listen to live music.
June Spinler summarizes the experience: “You find everything in one place”.
This makes it easier to lose the fear of the dentist.
Source: Terra
Ben Stock is a lifestyle journalist and author at Gossipify. He writes about topics such as health, wellness, travel, food and home decor. He provides practical advice and inspiration to improve well-being, keeps readers up to date with latest lifestyle news and trends, known for his engaging writing style, in-depth analysis and unique perspectives.
