Recently our American dentist, whom we respect and trust, quoted us $21,500 for four much needed implants for my lower jaw. We subsequently sent his state-of-the-art xrays to Dr. Angela Acuna Romo in Rocky Point for a second quote. Given Dr. Romo's apparently good professional reputation, we accepted her bid of $7200 for the same work. We flew to Phoenix and drove to Mexico soon after.
Upon our arrival, Dr. Romo determined that six not four implants were required. Her price was increased to $9000 and we accepted that amount.

We returned to her clinic two days later. I was seated in a chair and greeted by Dr. Romo's recently hired new dentist. She proceeded to sedate me and started working on replacing old crowns on my other jaw - - not the aforementioned implants in my lower jaw we had discussed. While this was occuring, Dr. Romo explained to my wife that the required implant hardware had to be ordered and would be there in two days. In the meantime, she was going to "fix" some old crowns I already had. My wife then gave her a check for $9000 and arranged for a wire transfer of an additional $4800. The price for new crowns and implants was $13,800.

We had been forced to change our airline reservations, extend our hotel stay and use lots of taxis. Our trip was becoming very expensive.
The new implants finally arrived eight days later. The "new" dentist emplaced them over the next several painful hours. We were then given an antibiotic prescription and told to return the next day for a final check before our return to the states. Three weeks of agony had begun.

Soon after arriving home, we went to see our American dentist. He could do nothing until the swelling went down and prescribed a heavy duty antibiotic. His new xray showed two implants actually leaning on each other, three others bunched together and one of those penetrating the bone and protruding into the mouth's cavity. Worst of all, and causing almost unbearable pain, most of the implants were either touching or had been pounded right into nerves. When the mess made at Rocky Point Smiles was healed enough, all six implants were removed. Several more weeks of healing were required and then his original proposed four implants were sucessfully installed. All of the local work has been done with no pain and healing has been normal.

Given the above, we have asked Dr. Romo four times for a partial refund. Our first two emails were answered with an insistence we return for further work. Not likely. The third and fourth have not been answered at all.

Obviously, although Dr. Romo's website comes up on top in a search for Rocky Point Puerto Penasco dentists, you now know that Rocky Smiles dental clinic should be LAST... bad dentistry and dishonest business ethics!! We hope our story might help others avoid a horrible, horrible experience.

Dr. Michael J. Babbidge
Colonel USAF (ret)