beware dr. erich wolley, dds in tijuana, mex.

greetings all,

this is a blog to relay my experiences with dr. erich wolley, dds. he lives in san diego/chula vista and works in tijuana, mexico as a holistic dentist. i went to him after seeing him on the hulda clark website as a recommended holistic dentist. erich says he is recommended by david wolfe the raw food/superfood guy, though i couldnt confirm that with mr. wolfe or his staff at sun foods.
i spent a fair amount of money at dr. wolley's office and was very disappointed with his work.
the following is a review of my experience with dr. wolley, (or erich as he prefers to be called).

erich is a bright guy, a fast talker and a good salesman. in his work on me, he was not through, even though he assured me over the phone that he was, before i flew into san diego. i had quite a bit of work done while in tijuana at erich's office. he did work on my lower and upper dental regions..
at the very last day of my time in tijuana, erich mentioned that i might have 'just very slight discomfort for 6-8 weeks'. i thought that was unusual, as i had never had a dentist say that before. erich said it was because he didnt put extra cement into cavitations and that the tooth would have to create its own dentin from within. i thought that would be ok, anything for a stronger, more natural tooth. erich didnt offer me any pain meds or antibiotics before i left.
if i has known what i was in for i would have definately wanted both.
i was in extreme discomfort for 4 weeks. another 4 weeks were still very painful as my friends could attest. i suffered through it, because i was willing to deal even with extreme pain for weeks, if i could have stronger teeth. around week 3, i felt like i had developed an infection in a formerly healthy molar. (healthy and could chew on it -lower right quadrant- before i went to see erich).
i managed to contact erich after mulitple attempts, and he insisted that none of my teeth were 'candidates for infection'. i thought that since i was experiencing so much pain, that what i thought was an infection was just part of the healing pain process. this was not so. i have recently been to another dentist here is the usa, and he gave me that bad news that the tooth had infection at the base, and was probably dead. i had done the icecube test several times before the visit, and had no sensation. this dentist did digital xrays, and so i had a clear picture of this formerly healthy tooth and some other problems erich missed. i suspect this tooth, might have been opened up to infection when erich was cleaning my teeth with a metal scaling tool, and he knicked my gum right underneath this tooth. mistakes happen of course;but, if i had been the dentist, i would have insisted on antibiotics, especially given the amount of i work i had done.
just to be on the safe side. and, as i would be many hundreds of miles away, this would not be an easy, quick trip back.
erich also placed an inlay on a cracked molar tooth in the same lower right quadrant of my jaw.
i wanted to make sure the cracked tooth was viable and able to recieve the inlay and be a healthy, strong tooth. erich insisted the tooth was fine and the inlay would work. the dentist in the usa, also took a digital xray of the cracked tooth w. the inlay. he found infection underneath this tooth as well. he believes that this tooth will also not live long. so im faced with the process of extracting a once healthy tooth and also the cracked tooth that has an inlay that shouldnt have been placed in the tooth. this is a bit of a serious situation. root canals, according to holistics dentist, have the strong possiblity of chronic infection, setting the stage for other more serious problems. the dilema is that once the tooth has been extracted, there is possiblity of bone loss in the area of the missing teeth. a conundrum indeed. save your teeth!
google hulda clarks materials and books on dental issues and their relationship to more serious diseases. she has a lot of free materials online. i would be careful of the dentists she recommends tho. also, i personally dont care for dr. clarks dietary advice. she does have interesting free info on naturopathy and cleansing.
i would also refer people to :
www.westonaprice.org
http://www.westonaprice.org/bookreviews/index.html
http://www.westonaprice.org/bookreviews/napd.html
http://www.westonaprice.org/basicnutrition/vitamin-k2.html (read about cod liver oil and vit. K2 and its healing properties , esp. on dental caries.)
also check out his book: 'nutrition and physical degeneration'. this gives one perspective on the profound impact of nutrition on dental health and dental healths influence on overall health.
i am also getting interested in the metaboic typing diet. this might another avenue some people might want to explore.
just thought i would offer some positive potential solutions along w. my review which continues below.

the dentist in the usa, also found a large cavity in another molar that was so obvious, he mentioned aloud, 'he wasnt sure how the other dentist (erich wolley) missed it'. erich also replaced a filling that he left w. a hole in it. (a small hole in the filling he replaced that is.)
i am going to need to have this filling replaced at addtional cost here in the usa.
erich also had a bridge made for me. this bridge failed on the 3rd time i tried it. not wearing it full time, mind you, i had merely tried for the 3rd time. the bridge fell down onto my gum area after slipping over the teeth. i also had 4 fillings he put in on the sides of my teeth, fall out the first time i flossed my teeth.

i also had a friend travel down from n. california to have some work done. i thought i had found a good holistic dentist while in the midst of having my work done. this, before the work starting falling apart and bridge failing. erich pulled one of her teeth and she also had a splint made. erich had promised mulitple times to give free replacement to any worn out or lost splint. i double checked w. him on this a couple of times just to be sure. he confirmed that he would replace any lost or worn out splint, no charge. my friend noticed a few weeks after the tooth was removed that a large piece of something was still coming out the cavitation. a navy dentist confirmed that it was indeed a piece of tooth that still needed to be extraced. she has an appt. to have a regular dentist in her area remove the rest of the tooth and relieve her of the infection that has developed. erich has refused to replace the splint that she has lost. he has even refused to supply another splint at cost or low cost.
i attempted to call erich more than 10 times during business hours to let him know of the problems my friend and i were having. i was only able to reach him when i called him at approx. 8.30am his time on a business day. he told me he was busy and would call back or take my call in 30 minutes. he, of course, did not take my take when i tried back 30 minutes later. i was able to later contact him on his cell ph. on sunday feb. 7 2009, at approximately 3.30pm pst. he wanted to talk later, and so set an appt. over the phone for the next day at 10.30 am pst. i was not able to contact him at the set time or even on later attempts. i was forced to contact him by email. i had several email exchanges w. him. he has now stopped returning my emails. i have requested the xrays he took of my teeth via email or regular mail. he has ignored my requests.
i have also requested a refund of part of the money is spent. it looks like i will have more dental cost in the near future.
i would not recommend erich wolley dds for any dental procedure. his work for my friend and me was not through. it was actually even sloppy. he missed many details that should have been part of any dentist's standard procedure. i have a molar that is dead, according to another dentist, that was healthy before i went to erich wolley's office in tijuana. erich made promises that he had no intention of keeping- replacing splints for example. he also did not offer any pain meds or antibiotics that i would have definately taken. who knows, antibiotics might have saved my molar before it became infected. i am now going to have to spend a lot more money to correct dental issues that arose in part due to erich's negligence.
to be fair, erich did offer to work on my teeth again, at no charge, if i flew back to his clinic. however, given the quality of work he performed on me, i have no desire to endanger myself w. his dental care again.
beware. word to the wise. maybe he just had a bad week. i would not trust him again w. any of teeth or any dental issues.

sincerely,
tom