Dental treatment abroad: what to ask before you travel

Consumer and professional bodies in several countries publish advice for people who live there and are thinking about dental treatment in another country. The questions they raise are much the same: who treats you, what is agreed in writing, what happens if something goes wrong, and who looks after you once you are home. This page takes those questions one by one and answers each of them for our clinic in Antalya, Turkey. On this page, "we" means that clinic.

Under each question you will find what to check, with the body named where one says it, and how we answer it. Our examples come from the consumer advice centre in Germany and the dental association in the Netherlands, which publish this advice for their own residents. Check too what the health authority or dental association in your own country advises, because cover, complaints and care after treatment abroad differ from country to country. Where our answer is a commitment rather than a fact you can check today, it says so in those words. Clinical detail about a treatment belongs on the treatment page, for example All-on-6 implants; this page is about the decision to travel.

You can still decide not to travel: having the treatment with a dentist where you live remains an option. You can say no, or ask to stop, at any stage. Once a tooth has been prepared or extracted, that step cannot be undone.

Who carries out the treatment, and what are their qualifications?

What to check. Ask who will carry out the treatment and what qualifications they have. Ask how many times that person has carried out the procedure, and what their rates of success, complication and infection are. Ask too whether they are insured if something goes wrong.

How we answer. We will name the dentist who will treat you, in writing, before you commit, and you can read that dentist's training, memberships and languages on the dentist's profile page. We publish no outcome figures from our own records yet. Ask us the rest of that list as well, and ask for the answer in writing.

Is the clinic registered, and with whom?

What to check. Find out how dentists and clinics are regulated in the country where you will be treated: whether there is a professional regulatory body, whether registration with it is compulsory, and what it enforces. Do not assume that a body like the one in your own country exists there, or that its standards are the same. Decide whether you are satisfied with the facilities and the standards where you will be treated.

What applies in Turkey. A dentist starting private practice in Turkey must register with the local dental chamber within one month¹, and cannot practise privately without it. The Turkish Dental Association's website offers a search of registered dentists by name and province². We do not know how up to date that search is, so if a name is missing, ask before you draw a conclusion. A dental clinic cannot open without a licence or treat patients without an operating permit, and it is inspected at least once a year³.

To treat international health tourism patients, a health facility also needs an authorisation certificate⁴, issued for facilities by the Ministry of Health and for intermediary organisations by USHAS. The Ministry publishes a register of the authorised facilities and intermediaries⁵ that you can read yourself. The authorisation belongs to the facility, not to the individual dentist, so ask as well for the treating dentist's own chamber registration and for how you can check it. A licence, a chamber registration and the authorisation are permission and supervision conditions. None of them is a statement about the result of your treatment, and no source on this page says that care abroad meets the same standards as care at home.

How we answer. We will give you our international health tourism authorisation details before you commit, so that you can look the clinic up in that register yourself.

Will the team speak my language?

What to check. Ask whether the dental team will speak your language and, if not, whether an interpreter is provided. The German consumer advice centre's checklist, for example, tells patients to find out how many of the staff speak their language⁶.

How we answer. We will tell you in writing which languages the people you will actually meet speak, and how interpreting is arranged if your language is not among them.

A treatment plan and a full cost estimate, in writing

What to check. Expect a dentist to examine you before you are given a final treatment plan and cost estimate, and to take your full medical history, including whether you smoke. Send your conditions, medicines and allergies before you book rather than on the day: they can change what is suitable for you and when it can be done. The German consumer advice centre tells patients to make sure the dentist abroad is fully informed about any previous illnesses or risks⁷, and to ask whether records from their treatment at home are needed. It also puts things in order: get a full cost estimate first, and sit in the treatment chair only once you have a written contract⁷. The Dutch dental association tells patients to get information from the clinic in advance and in writing, about the treatment, the risks, the alternatives and the costs⁸.

How we answer. We will give you the plan in writing before treatment begins: what it covers, what it does not cover, and what could change it. A plan built from photographs is a preliminary assessment; the plan is decided after a clinical examination and, where it is needed, X-rays or a 3D scan, and we will tell you before anything in it changes. If the plan changes, ask for the revised plan in writing before treatment continues; you can still say no to the change.

What your insurer needs, and when

What to check. Ask your insurer before you book which documents it needs, in which language, and by when. As an example, the German consumer advice centre tells people insured in Germany to submit the foreign dentist's treatment and cost plan to the insurer, in German, before treatment starts⁶, and to ask for a detailed invoice in German afterwards. The same source says that, for treatment elsewhere in the EU, patients still receive the insurer's fixed contribution if the plan is approved in advance; it says nothing about treatment outside the EU. Wherever you are insured, ask your own insurer what applies before you book.

How we answer. Tell us before treatment which documents your insurer needs and in which language, and we will tell you in writing which of them we can provide.

The whole cost, not only the treatment

What to check. Count travel and accommodation, count the possibility of travelling again for aftercare, and settle in advance how unplanned additional treatment will be handled⁶, as the German consumer advice centre advises. The same German body makes a point that is about cost rather than about the treatment: the cost advantage of treatment abroad holds only if you do not have to travel again for the aftercare⁷. The Dutch dental association tells patients to take all the costs into account, including travel and accommodation⁸. Ask too what you pay if the examination shows the treatment is not suitable, or if you decide not to go ahead.

How we answer. We will state in writing what your plan covers and what it does not, so that you can add the rest up yourself. This page carries no prices and no savings comparisons.

Is the work guaranteed, and under which country's law?

What to check. Ask whether the work is guaranteed and for how long, what happens if you are unhappy with the result, whether further treatment is included in the cost if there are complications, and who pays for extra flights, the hotel and any corrective work. The German consumer advice centre says the cost estimate should set out the scope of the work and any rework if problems arise⁷, and that the warranty should if possible be agreed under German law⁷. That is advice about what to agree, not a statement that German law governs a contract signed abroad. The Dutch guidance tells patients to check carefully whether they have any right to a guarantee⁸. Ask the consumer body in your own country what it advises.

How we answer. Before you commit we give you our complication route and our remake terms in writing. That document states what is covered, for how long, what you have to do to keep it, what is excluded, and who pays for further treatment and for travel. We do not use the word guarantee in place of that document.

Where can a complaint actually be taken?

What to check. Ask for the clinic's written complaints procedure before you commit, and ask where you can take a complaint if the clinic's own answer does not satisfy you. Do not assume that the bodies in your own country can help. The Dutch dental association, for example, states that patients treated abroad cannot rely on the rights they have at home⁹. Check what the health authority or dental association in your own country says about complaints after treatment abroad. The practical consequence is not that there is no route, but that the route is a different one, in a different country, and it has to be written down before you travel.

What applies in Turkey. Turkey's 2025 regulation on international health tourism makes the facility responsible for complications and medical malpractice arising after the health service it provided⁴, and requires complication insurance for surgical and interventional procedures carried out in an operating-theatre setting. That insurance requirement is written for the operating-theatre setting, so it does not by itself tell you that a particular dental procedure is insured: ask which of the procedures in your plan are covered.

A complaint goes to the clinic first. Private dental polyclinics, centres and hospitals in Turkey must have a patient rights unit³. If the clinic does not resolve the complaint, you can apply to the provincial health directorate's Patient Rights Board¹⁰. The Board decides within 30 days, but it does not assess allegations of medical error. The dental chamber can also open disciplinary proceedings¹ against a dentist, which can lead to a penalty. Turkey's patient rights regulation also keeps your right to apply, to complain and to take legal action¹⁰. Ask before you commit how a complaint from someone who lives outside Turkey is handled, and in which language. Ask too which route applies to a claim about medical error, and consider independent legal advice if you need it.

How we answer. We will give you our written complaints procedure before treatment, and it names where you can take the matter if our own answer does not satisfy you.

Our own advice is to stop and think before you book any treatment abroad if you see any of these five signs: a hard sell, too little information, pressure to decide quickly, no discussion of what can go wrong, or no mention of aftercare. Before you agree to anything, you should know the risks of the treatment you want and the alternatives to it, and what to do if a problem appears after you go home.

Apply those five signs to this clinic too. If you are being pushed to decide today, that is a reason to wait, not a reason to hurry. If a page or a message tells you about the result and not about what can go wrong, something is missing from it.

Take your record with you

The German and Dutch sources ask for the same thing. The whole treatment should be documented in writing, including a record of the materials used⁷. After treatment, ask for your patient file and check that it says which materials were used⁸. In Turkey the health tourism regulation gives you a parallel right: an itemised bill, and on request free copies of the records of the materials used, the tests and the imaging⁴.

We will give you that record at the end of treatment, in a form you can hand to a dentist at home, and we will tell you in writing who to contact afterwards and when.

A dentist where you live

The Dutch guidance tells patients to discuss the plan with their own dentist beforehand and to ask whether they can go to that dentist if something goes wrong⁸. Ask too how your records will pass between the clinic abroad and your dentist at home, and who arranges the aftercare. Have that conversation before you book, not after you land. We will tell you in writing whether a check with a dentist in your own country can be written into your plan.

For signs of an emergency — swelling of the face or neck that is spreading, or difficulty breathing or swallowing — go to the nearest emergency department or call the emergency number where you are. For other urgent problems, such as a high temperature or bleeding that does not stop, get care where you are first. In either case, tell us afterwards, and do not wait for a reply from us before you get help.

What your health service or insurer covers

Before you travel, ask the health service or your insurer in the country where you live what it covers. Two questions matter most. Does it pay anything towards treatment abroad? Will it pay for follow-up work at home if something goes wrong with work done abroad? The answers differ by country and by insurer, so get them in writing. If you take out travel insurance, ask whether it covers anything connected with planned treatment.

What one survey of dentists found

A survey of dentists in the UK, run by their professional association, reported that 94% of the dentists who answered had examined patients who had travelled for treatment¹¹. 86% had treated cases that developed problems after treatment abroad¹¹, and 87% named crowns as the treatment most likely to need follow-up work, with implants named by 85%. Read those percentages for what they are. They are shares of the dentists who responded, not of patients treated abroad. Because that denominator is responding dentists, and because the dentists who answered chose to answer, these figures cannot tell you how often treatment abroad goes wrong. It is also one survey in one country. What it does show is that, in that country, follow-up work landed with dentists where the patients lived. Plan for the same wherever you live: that is why the record, the contact route and the written remake terms above matter more than any promise.

• It sets out the questions to ask before dental treatment abroad. Where a consumer or professional body says the same thing, it is named as an example: the consumer advice centre in Germany and the dental association in the Netherlands. Turkish rules are named because they apply to the treatment. Each statement from a source is traced to it at the end of the page. Where no source is named, the question is our own practical advice.
• Cover, complaints and care after treatment abroad differ by country. Check what the health authority or dental association in your own country advises.
• Where a sentence says what we will do, it is a commitment we make in writing before you commit. It is not a claim about results, and not something to take on trust from a web page.
• No source used here says that treatment abroad is equivalent to care at home, and neither do we. An authorisation, a certificate or a badge is a condition of operating, not a promise about your result.
• There are no prices, no discounts and no comparisons with clinics in other countries on this page.
• Nothing here is a diagnosis or a treatment plan for you. That follows a clinical examination.
• This page is written for readers outside Turkey who are deciding whether to travel.