In response to rising U.S. health care costs, Americans are increasingly heading to Mexico for dental work, prescription pickups and other medical needs.

• The visits are popular among Texans willing to drive to Mexico for deep discounts on medical procedures.

The big picture: Patients Beyond Borders, a North Carolina firm that offers resources on international medical travel, estimates that more than 1 million Americans travel to Mexico yearly for elective treatments.

• Almost 70% of those visits are for dental care, Patients Beyond Borders says.

Yes, but: Last month, four Americans visiting Mexico for medical treatment were attacked and kidnapped in the Mexican city of Matamoros, south of Brownsville.

• Officials said the Americans could have been mistaken for Haitian drug smugglers.

Zoom in: Tourists help sustain the Mexican border town of Nuevo Progreso, 27 miles east of McAllen and 33 miles west of Matamoros.

• The small town is a five-and-a-half-hour drive from Austin.

What they're saying: Alejandro Benítez Fernández, a dentist in Nuevo Progreso, tells Axios that most of his clients are from the Houston area.

Threat level: The U.S. State Department lists the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, which includes Nuevo Progreso, on its do-not-travel list, saying there is a risk of crime and kidnapping.

• The State Department also says Americans should be cautious when buying medication in Mexico, citing the risk of tainted pills.

Reality check: Nuevo Progreso is still buzzing most days, partly because of its proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border.

• Visitors have the option to park their car on the American side for $2 and pay $1 to walk over a bridge into Mexico.

Malpractice risks

Our Axios Dallas colleague Naheed has been traveling to Mexico for dental work with her family for almost a decade. This is what she said:

State of plaque: Oral health is important, but access to dental care remains an issue. Millions of Americans don't have dental insurance, according to the CareQuest Institute for Oral Health.

• 55% of Americans had oral health issues in 2022, but more than half of those didn't seek care, according to the institute. Cost was the primary reason.

The big picture: The nine-hour drive from North Texas to the border is long, but the savings add up.

• For example, a deep cleaning, wisdom tooth extraction, root canal and six new crowns cost $2,730 at our Nuevo Progreso dentist. The same procedure would have cost more than $6,000 without insurance at our Dallas-area dentist.

Yes, but: To minimize safety risks, we stay in a hotel in Weslaco, park on the American side of the border, and stay on the main road in Nuevo Progreso.

• And we leave before sunset.

👷‍♂️ $5.2 million in safety improvements at the intersection of South Congress Avenue and Stassney Lane will break ground in May, including new separated bicycle and pedestrian paths. (KVUE)

🎸 The Killers and Queen will headline Formula 1 concerts in October. (KXAN)

🚒 Austin Fire Department overtime pay topped $20 million in the latest fiscal year. (Austin Monitor)

📺 Elon Musk will appear on Bill Maher's HBO show tomorrow at 9pm. (Teslarati)

🚨 A bat found at Zilker Park on Wednesday tested positive for rabies. Public health officials are asking residents to take precautionary measures with wildlife. (CBS Austin)

A nonprofit martial arts studio in South Austin is offering classes to allow nonbinary students to express themselves.

Driving the news: Recently Sun Dragon Martial Arts and Self-Defense launched its Plus class, geared toward LGBTQ+ students.

• It's a karate class that also involves discussion time.

What they're saying: "It's not just punching and kicking," Laura Hayden, executive director of Sun Dragon, tells Axios. "We teach stuff like kids using voices, to say, 'Hey, stop that,' 'Don’t sit that close to me,' or 'Don’t bother my friend.' We teach ways to use voices and stand up for each other." ​​

• "We talk about things that are a little more sensitive, like what does it feel like in school to not be yourself?" she says.

The big picture: Over the last few years, LGBTQ+ martial arts classes and clubs have launched from Los Angeles to upstate New York.

Why it matters: The National Center for Transgender Equality says more than one in four trans people have faced a bias-driven assault.

Between the lines: Sun Dragon started in the late 1980s as a space for women to train without the hazing, abuse and exclusion they encountered at other studios.

• Now, with classes in violence prevention, yoga, self-defense and Seido Karate, the studio accepts everyone.
• Students range in age from six to 70.

How to go: Sun Dragon is located at 4534 West Gate Blvd., Suite 101, across the road from Central Market and Whole Earth Provision Co.

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Thanks to the dozens of you who took a crack at guessing yesterday's mystery spot for a chance to win Axios Austin swag.

The answer: It's Huston–Tillotson University, Austin's only historically Black university.

And the winner is Merrell Foote, whose Air Force pilot husband identified our aerial view of campus.

• The pair has lived in Austin since 1987.
• "He flew RF-4s as a navigator and is used to seeing the world from above," Foote tells us.