I will start my story from when I decided to get my teeth fixed and overcome my dentist phobia. My finances after bad decisions made were in horrible shape and I could not afford a decent dentist in the US, the cost was prohibited...who has 60, 000 + cash on hand? I decided to search the internet and came across a dentist not foo far from South Carolina...sunny Cancun! His name is dr German Arzate. If I knew then what I know now! After numerous emails with Patricia Arciniega the coordinator at the clinic and after numerous assurances that he was the absolute best of the best in the field of dental implants and with an impressive certificate from the US and recommended by "top dentists" like Dr Shankar, Dr. Piermatti, Dr Minichetti, Dr D'Amore, I decided to go. After all all of those doctors represent the AAID and the ABOI. He boast certificates received by them in the US! My appointment was on July 1st 2019 with surgery on July 2nd. My son accompanied me and we were put in a small, dark, hot room to pay the almost 19, 000 dollars... I should have paid attention to the signs. The credit card kept on getting rejected and the secretary kept on trying and asked my son to keep on calling the bank until the transaction went through. What a big mistake...I wanted to get up and leave but she assured me that was just a glitch. I didn't find the clinic clean or the staff knowledgeable enough to make me feel comfortable nor the doctor for that matter. I actually found him to be arrogant and a big talker. He acts like he has seen it all and done it all. More to come on that. He has all of his staff trained to lie right to your face..you know the type...darling, love, sweetheart we so happy to see you, you are in great hands, Dr Arzate is the best! They are the front field of the castle of lies...The "fluffers" as I call them. I don't know why to this day I defended him when I first came home. I guess I was scared he would leave me with half job done. I didn't even tell my own husband how bad or the pain I was feeling. In retrospect it was very foolish of me to suffer by myself. I say half job because as soon as I came back to the US...something was wrong, I had pain, unusual pain, redness and my gums were swollen, when I used the water pick, blood was coming out. I contacted Patricia Arciniega and after a series of emails I was told the doctor wanted me on antibiotic and to have my dentist here take a look at my infection... I contacted dr Hehr, top surgeon in the field here in SC...and he was shocked at the work that was performed. I was devastated, I went home with antibiotic for my infection that dr Hehr after much begging finally prescribed after I showed him the recommendation of Dr Arzate Clindamycin 300mg 3 times a day for 28 days. I became very depressed, I lost the only money we had saved...so depressed to the point I tried to commit suicide on July 26. Dr Arzate after convincing him I had problem with my implants, asked me to go back and so I did...more money spent on flight and hotel and I arrived on September 11 This time I was alone... He checked me out and told me surgery to remove one implant was scheduled for the next day and I had to pay for the anesthesia. I returned the next day and I was put to sleep. I felt pain during my surgery, I remember putting my hand inside my mouth several times and when I woke up, the left side of my gum was so swollen it literally was touching my cheek. Dr Puly apologized to me saying that it was her fault and then I also complained about the implant on the top left that was taken out and now there was a new one really crooked that was painful. They told me not to worry about it because the surgery was really fresh. Dr Arzate came in the next day showing me X-ray with a big grin telling me he did me a big favor and gave me a big present inserting 2 extra fat implants! Wait...I did not ask nor did I want more implants! Now...I was waiting for the immediate load again to come home with, instead they worked on sending me home with denture finding the excuse that my gums needed to heal for a couple of months. Every day I was there 16 days to be exact, I kept on complaining about my swollen gum and my implants hurting and of course they kept on telling me ( dr Puly and Dr Arzate) that it was normal. At one point my denture was horrible, the 2 front teeth were off to the side by a lot ( see picture) he was also trying to fix the bottom by pulling it with wire to make it fit...a complete disaster. After I came back to the US, my pain increased, pus started to come out, I couldn't wear the denture because the implants were hurting, I emailed, sent videos and in few words it was either my fault (because dr Arzate is the master), go to a dentist to have the implant removed or just take a plane and they would check it out. Easy right? Sure if I lived around the corner or have endless money hidden under the mattress. I showed them on the video that my gums were not even closed right, they did not put the stitches in the right places and they left them open so bacteria and food would go in...He had the audacity to write me a response saying...I am happy to see the implants are in your gums strong and you saw and verify when you were here that the implants were put in the correct place...ME? Really? How do I know? More Clindamycin 300mg, more pain...I was on that medication for a total of 56 days! The only thing I know for sure now is that your degree in Mexico as a "doctor" is not recognized in the USA. I am sure you could not even be a dental hygienist here without going back to school. I have come to realize that all this is a big huge scam including the ABOI and AAID. If you pay good money to Dr. Minichetti or Dr Shankar you get your certificate. This is something that NEEDS to be investigated by the medical board as the biggest scam I have ever come across. I am sure that it is good for dentists here in the US that want to continue their education, but to give this certificates to "dentists" abroad is like giving a loaded gun to a child and ask him to go play in a yard full of kids. I went to see another surgeon here, Dr. Mark F. Yampolsky, DDS and after taking X-Ray he recommended for 6 implants to be removed because either infected or situated wrong. Because I was still under warranty, I decided to go back to Cancun and have them removed. I endured again the expense of the plane ticket and hotel and I went back to the clinic where this time I brought my IPad to record the whole conversation. Dr. Maria Paula Villalobos and Patricia Arciniega were in the room telling me that my doctor was wrong and that dr. Arzate was in the hospital with kidney stone emergency (found out from a photo he was out of the Country). They told me that maybe one needed to be removed but they would check every single implants and planned surgery for the next day. I told them specifically that IF they needed to remove more than 2, to please remove all of the one my surgeon here in the US recommended. When I woke up from the surgery not only they removed just 3 but they put 4 more that I did NOT ask or wanted or gave my permission. This was done against my will. I feel raped, violated, they had no right to do that. As an aside note...I had my recording on the whole time during the surgery without them knowing about it. Every time I went to the office I recorded every single conversation. I am glad I did that because they had no problem telling me they record conversations with patients...now I have mine. I know it's illegal here in the US unless you tell the other person they are being recorded, but I guess in Mexico the law is different. They talked about other patients divulging their name and what a pain to deal with they were. Unprofesssional! I contacted Dr.Shankar and he said he was going to "Mediate" and to contact him after my return...he blocked me when he found out who the doctor in Cancun was because he is one of his best friend who hosts one of the AAID maxi course in Cancun...like I said...it's stronger than a mafia clan. I am still to this day in so much pain, the implants they left are still infected, they hurts and the people who give these "doctors" these certificate to operate under the false pretense they are trained in the US are filling their pockets to the tune of 100's of thousand of dollars... They have created a black hole that nobody can penetrate. It's a strong clan but somebody has to step up and do something. The procedure I had done it's called All-on-four and supposedly was invented by Dr Paulo Malo... well Dr. Arzate is taking credit and say he is the inventor (yes I have it on video) and it's the reason why I went to him in Cancun...who better to do the procedure than the inventor himself? I am beside myself how can this happen? When I confronted them about dr. Arzate not having kidney stones they blocked me from messaging them on FB. I have an appointment set up for February 24 2020, I want to have to pull all of the implants taken out.
I went on February 24 and my husband accompanied me. Dr Arzate took us in a room where he had a video recorder going. He went through most of the emails I sent including the one I sent to the AAID...shame on them for warning him. I also called out Patricia Arciniega since we were on video about her giving and talking about a patient that I has no business knowing..where is the confidentiality? He explained that his intentions were always in my best interest and in his opinion the doctors here in the US were wrong and if they were saying different he wanted in writing so that he would be able to sue them (yes I had my own recorder on)
This time I paid attention, I took pictures of how filthy and unsanitary the room really was, dusty, I saw old blood spots...
He inserted 3 more mini implants so that I could have a stable denture and low and behold...I complained to Dr.Puli on the last day I was there that I was seeing pus coming out because the 2 implants were put on a spot that was already in question with infection. she of course dismiss me saying she didn't see anything and now March 5th...guess what? There is pus coming out and I am back home. BTW, I was put in the hallway where cleaning people go by with dirty broom and dust pan for my final checkup. I am done. I will try to go after Dr. Shankar, Dr Minichetti, Dr Piermatti and Dr D'Amore... I will file a complaint with the police if necessary for assault I will write to the attorney general, newspapers, tv, legislators, but I will not stop.
And so you have it my whole story...Like I said what you see is my real name and you can contact me on FB.
STAY AWAY FROM THIS CLINIC
