Dental Implants in Turkey: What UK Patients Should Ask Before Booking

Treatment abroad can be a sensible choice, but only if you ask the right questions first. Here are the ones we would want answered.

More of our patients in Abbey Wood are asking about having implant treatment abroad, and it is a fair question to ask. Implants are a significant investment, the waiting lists here can be long, and the difference in cost is real. We are not going to pretend otherwise.

We also arrange treatment in Antalya ourselves, with one clinic we have visited in person, so we are hardly neutral. What we can offer is the view from inside a UK practice that sees what comes back, both the results that went well and the ones that did not.

Who will actually be treating you

This is the first question and most people never ask it. When you enquire through an agency or a comparison site, you are usually talking to a co-ordinator, not a clinician. The clinic you are eventually booked into may not be the one shown in the advertising, and the dentist who treats you may not be the one whose photograph you saw.

Ask for the name and the qualifications of the dentist who will place your implants. Ask whether that same dentist will do the restorative work afterwards, or whether it passes to a colleague. Ask how many cases like yours they have handled.

If you cannot get a name before you pay a deposit, that tells you something.

What happens before you fly

A treatment plan made after you land is not a treatment plan, it is a sales appointment with a chair booked.

Proper implant planning needs a clinical examination, radiographs and usually a CBCT scan showing the bone you actually have. That work can be done at home before you travel, and the plan agreed in advance. If you are being asked to commit on the strength of a few photographs sent by message, you are being asked to gamble.

Implant treatment is planned around bone volume, gum health, the bite and the teeth around the gap. None of that can be assessed from a phone photograph.

What the price actually covers

Quoted prices abroad often exclude things you would assume are included. Ask specifically whether the figure covers the implant, the abutment and the final crown, or only the implant itself. Ask what happens if a bone graft or a sinus lift turns out to be necessary. Ask what the cost would be of a second trip if one is needed.

Ask what is not included as plainly as you ask what is.

How aftercare works once you are home

This is where most of the difficulty we see actually arises. Implants need reviewing. Screws loosen, crowns chip, gums recede, and these are ordinary events rather than disasters, but somebody has to deal with them.

If your treatment was arranged privately abroad with no UK practice involved, you will be looking for a dentist willing to take on the ongoing care of work they did not do, without the records, without the components, and without knowing which implant system was used. Many will decline, and they are not being difficult. Taking clinical responsibility for another practice's work is a real risk.

Ask which implant system will be used, and get it in writing. Ask for your records, scans and the implant passport before you leave the clinic. Ask who you contact if something is wrong in six months.

The questions worth asking any clinic

• Who is the dentist placing the implants and what are their qualifications?
• Will my plan be agreed before I travel, based on a scan?
• Which implant system will be used, and will I be given the documentation?
• What exactly does the quoted price include, and what does it exclude?
• How many trips will this take, realistically?
• What is the written guarantee, what does it cover, and what voids it?
• Who looks after this work when I am back in the United Kingdom?

When we would say do not go

Treatment abroad is not right for everyone and we say so regularly. If your gum health needs stabilising first, if the plan involves treating a large number of healthy teeth, if you cannot take the time off for more than one trip, or if you would struggle to travel again should something need adjusting, then having the work done at home is the better decision even though it costs more.

A practice that never tells anyone not to go is selling flights, not dentistry.

Where we sit

We work with one clinic in Antalya, chosen after our own dentist went and looked at it. Your assessment, your plan and your aftercare stay with us in Abbey Wood. That arrangement does not suit everyone, and it is not the cheapest option available, but it means there is always somebody here who knows your case.

If you are weighing this up, come and talk it through with us first. We will give you an honest view, including when the honest view is that you should stay at home.

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