The rise of Dental Tourism

[chrisste]

Anyone interested in knowing more as I’ve just arrived in Izmir to have 4 implants and 7 crowns replaced at a fraction of UK costs. Pretty slick service so far and it’s very very cheap now in Turkey.

• This topic was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by Rhys Jones.

[Mr. AC]

I’d be interested to learn more!

1. How did you find a reputable provider?
2. What material did they use for the crowns?
3. What was the average price per implant and per crown?

[Aston100]

£300 per zirconium crown is your target.

[toddy]

If your employer has a dental insurer provider:
1) most provide worldwide cover
2) most will cover pre-existing conditions (as long as the treatment plan as not commenced)

[Barraclough]

If there is a follow-up problem you would need to go back or use a UK specialist. I had implants in Spain three years ago but an implant screw came loose after about a year and I had to go to a UK specialist who initially struggled to find the correct screw fitting because the Spanish one was different. Another year on and the filling over the screw cover came away and I also had to have that done locally. Having highlighted this I’m still glad I had the implants done abroad and I saved a couple of thousand pounds!

[The Savage Squirrel]

Please do be very careful and do your research.

Turkey has many oustanding dentists, some of them genuinely world class, who will be able to do it at a lower cost than is possible for a comparable level of work in the UK

BBCode you used is not allowed.

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They also have some dentists that market to UK tourists and produce work that is low-cost high-turnround and is not planned or executed with long term health in mind.
Doing a good job is always slower and more costly than doing a bodge job. If you go there looking ONLY for the absolute cheapest possible, or are going on “dental holiday” package deal, then you are in grave danger of finding the second type of dentist rather than the first. Cost needs to be one consideration, but not the only one.

There’s one particularly well known Turkish clinic (that markets heavily in the Merseyside area), whose speciality is heavily drilling down healthy unrestored teeth to replace with ultra-white straight crowns; where tooth whitening and straightening could have achieved a similar – in fact better – result without the destruction of healthy tissue and commitment to a cycle of lifelong replacement. That is exactly the sort of thing you need to avoid.
Informing someone – who had that their previously healthy teeth drilled to stumps and replaced with ill-fitting crowns, which rapidly fail or cause problems, that they require complex rehabilitation at a cost many times what it would have cost to solve their initial problem, and that even with this there is no way to ever return their mouth to its pre-treatment condition, is not a pleasant conversation. There are always tears…

All dental work, no matter how good, requires maintenance and will, eventually, need replacement (remember your mouth and teeth are superbly evolved to grind up and destroy anything and everything they meet – that is their function after all). There is a chance of complications and unexpected events for any medical/dental procedure no matter how well executed. Be very clear of the realistic lifespan and how you intend to deal with maintenance and replacement of any work you have done. Be very clear how you would deal with any complications or corrections that are required – particularly urgent problems such as pain or infection (The NHS can not and will not provide replacements for failed or poorly executed cosmetic work or dental implants. Even in private practice, dealing with any poor execution or failure is difficult and may cost many times what the initial procedure did). Be clear exactly what regulatory and legal protections are in place and what recourse you have should the work not be satisfactory.

Hope that is of some help with what to think about.

[Nate1309]

Be very prepared mentally and financially for every dentist in the UK to refuse to sort out any problems that arise. Not once have I seen a patient not have problems with “cheap” dentistry placed abroad. Yes there are excellent dentists in Turkey, however they are very often charging slightly lower prices due to the UK due to a lower staff, material and overhead costs.

Lots of the clinics pay “influencers” a monthly retainer to appear happy. When in actual fact they are tied into contracts whether the dentistry they have had placed fails or not.

It baffles me that people want the cheapest option in their mouth. But each to their own.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by Nate1309.