Dr. Aníbal E. González, periodontist in Costa Rica

Dr. Aníbal E. González, M.S., D.D.S

One of the dentists in Costa Rica I’m most enthusiastic about is Dr. Aníbal E. González. He is a periodontist, so I don’t go to him for my general dental work, but he has given me helpful comments and advice about every aspect of my dental situation. I first went to Dr. Gonzales because another dentist named Thelma Rubenstein (see my post about her)  scared me by looking into my mouth and telling me I had a serious periodontal problem and that I might need surgery. She then suggested that she begin “root planing and scaling” immediately. (This is the name dentists give for a very deep, thorough cleaning that often requres more than one session.) She did one quadrant (1/4 of my teeth) and charged me $85 plus an examination fee. 

Rather than going back to her, I researched what periodontal specialists there are in Costa Rica and I decided to give Dr. Gonzales a try, based on the information on his website (which includes jpegs of his diplomas) plus the fact he speaks English, plus the fact that he graduated from Baylor University School of Dentistry.

My first visit with Dr. Gonzales was at his Grecia location–he also works out of an office in Escazu, and also some other location as well. I’m going to expand this post later, but the main point is: during the three times I went to see him, he did great work with me–very competent, careful, thoughtful treatment. And reasonable too: he charged me less than the non-specialist.

By the way, he also assured me that I did not need dental surgery, but he did notice an important problem with my bridge. I have since gone back to the dentist who did the bridge and he is replacing it at cost due to mechanical failure. Dr. Gonzales also noticed a fistula that my general dentist didn’t catch–this too was important information that means I will need a root canal, but I’m glad I found that out about it sooner than later. (In other words, before it started to hurt.) All this “value added,” plus a great job doing my periodontal work.

Dr. Anibal’s website is:

http://www.costaricacosmeticdental.com/doctors/agonzalez.html

Update:

I wrote the previous review in 2008. Just want to let you know I am still seeing Dr. Gonzales twice a year or so and he’s continued to impress me with his dental skill. He’s also a really nice guy. He’s done a great many things right but just so you know I’m not simply a raving fan, I’ll mention the only small thing that he did that I didn’t like. I try to minimize my x-ray exposure and when he was examining my teeth he suddenly wanted to make sure that a particular one of my root canals was still ok. He immediately took an xray before I really had a chance to think about, but later I realized I really would have preferred to have waited until I got the panoramic from my regular dentist, which I was planning to get in the next couple months. That would have reported on all my root canals so I simply didn’t like it that this additional and unnecessary xray was taken. OK, folks that’s it–so he’s not perfect.