Choosing a Dental Clinic: What to Check and What to Ask

What you can check at the clinic

Private dental practices, polyclinics, centres and hospitals in Turkey fall under one Ministry of Health regulation. Under it, a clinic cannot open without a licence or treat patients without an operating permit¹, and it may not employ unauthorised health professionals. You can ask a clinic about both. Clinics are inspected at least once a year. These are the minimum conditions for working at all; they say nothing about the quality of a particular treatment.

Some of this you can see for yourself:

• The dentist's working certificate. A copy approved by the provincial health directorate must hang in the surgery¹, where patients can easily see it. It names the dentist who works there.
• An ID card. Everyone working in the clinic wears a photo ID card showing their name and their title or profession.
• Titles. A clinic's sign, printed material and website may list only the specialties shown on the dentist's working certificate. A certificate, master's degree or doctorate does not make a dentist a specialist¹. If a clinic calls someone a specialist, you can ask in which field, and whether it is on their working certificate.
• Registration with the dental chamber. A dentist in private practice must register with the local dental chamber within a month², and cannot practise privately without it. The Turkish Dental Association's website has a search for registered dentists³ by name and province. Treat it as a first check. It may not be complete or up to date, so a name you cannot find is a reason to ask, not proof.
• Patient rights on display. Health facilities must display the patient rights⁴ as a list, sign or brochure where patients can read them.

The rules also require every area, instrument and consumable to meet disinfection and sterilisation conditions¹. You cannot inspect this yourself, but you can ask how instruments are cleaned and sterilised between patients.

Questions to ask before treatment starts

You can ask for the names, roles and titles of the dentist and staff who will treat you. This is a right under the Patient Rights Regulation⁴. You can also ask for another dentist's opinion.

Before a procedure you are owed an explanation of:

• what is likely causing the problem and how it may develop
• who will do the treatment, where, how, and how long it is expected to take
• the other options, with their benefits and risks
• the possible complications
• what may happen if you decline

The dentist who will carry out the treatment explains it to you in person, in plain language. These questions help you use that conversation:

1. Which tooth gets what, and why? Ask for the plan tooth by tooth, in writing. A plan that treats healthy teeth needs a reason for each one.
2. What is the least I could do? That includes doing nothing for now. Ask which of the options that suit your teeth keeps the most healthy tooth.
3. What cannot be undone? Enamel and dentine removed from a tooth do not grow back.
4. What happens if something goes wrong afterwards? Ask how to reach the clinic after treatment, who deals with a restoration that breaks or comes off, and on what written terms.
5. Who will I see at each visit? Ask whether the dentist who plans the treatment also carries it out.

Tell the dentist about your health conditions, every medicine you take and any allergies, and ask how they affect the plan.

In a private dental clinic, a consent form is required for every procedure¹. The form contains the information above and is signed in two copies⁴. One stays in your file and one is for you. Ask for your copy, and read it before you sign. If anything in the explanation or the form is unclear, including the language, ask for it to be explained again. Do not sign until your questions are answered.

Records you can ask for

You can examine your file and records and take a copy⁴, yourself or through a representative. Private dental clinics must record your diagnosis, treatment and any X-rays in detail, tooth by tooth¹, in an electronic system.

In practice, ask for:

• a copy of your X-ray records, especially before a second opinion, so that the next dentist sees the same images
• the treatment plan and a record of what was done to each tooth
• your copy of each consent form

Keep these together. If you move or change dentist, your new dentist can pick up where the last one stopped.

If something goes wrong: where to turn

If your rights as a patient are breached, you may apply, complain or go to court⁴. The routes below are separate, and you can use more than one. This is general information, not legal advice.

1. The clinic. Start by putting the problem in writing to the clinic. Polyclinics, centres and hospitals must have a patient rights unit¹; a single dentist's practice is not required to have one.
2. SABİM 184. The Ministry of Health's line takes complaints about dental care free of charge⁵. The Istanbul provincial health directorate, for example, also accepts written complaints by petition, at the directorate or a district health office.
3. The provincial Patient Rights Board. Each provincial health directorate has a board that hears applications the clinic could not resolve and decides within thirty days⁴. It does not assess allegations of medical error.
4. The dental chamber. Dental chambers protect professional discipline and ethics², and each has a disciplinary board. A dentist outside public service can be disciplined by their professional body after a patient's complaint⁴.
5. Consumer routes. Law No. 6502 defines a defective service. If a service is defective, the consumer can choose one remedy⁶, under conditions the law sets: the service redone, free repair, a reduction in what they pay, or withdrawal from the contract. Compensation can be claimed as well. Below a value limit that is updated every year, consumer disputes go to a consumer arbitration committee. Above it, they go to the consumer court, and before a case there you must first apply to a mediator⁶. The law does not name dental treatment. Whether your dispute counts as a consumer dispute is a legal question for a lawyer or the committee.

Time matters. Under the same law, claims for a defective service become time-barred two years after the service was performed⁶, even if the defect appears later. The exceptions are a longer period set by law or contract, and a defect concealed by gross fault or fraud. This is a time limit for claims, not a warranty. If you think you have a claim, get legal advice early.

When to see a dentist

After any treatment, contact your dentist if you notice any of these. If you have lost confidence in the clinic, any other dentist can examine you.

• Pain or swelling that gets worse instead of better, pain that wakes you at night, or pain when you bite
• A crown, bridge, veneer or filling that is loose, cracked or has come off (keep it, and do not glue it back yourself)
• Bleeding that does not stop, pus at the gum, or a bad taste that does not go away
• Numbness that lasts after the anaesthetic should have worn off

Emergencies. Difficulty breathing or swallowing, rapidly spreading swelling of the face or neck, a high fever or swelling around the eye are serious signs. Do not wait for a reply from the clinic: go to the nearest emergency department or call 112.

Frequently asked questions