Do you know how good life is for those lucky people with white teeth who don\’t go to the dentist for years and still feel good? Neither do we. We had to treat our teeth regularly in the USA, and we can\’t do without it in Turkey either. But at least we have had the opportunity to compare how dentistry works here and there.
If you wish to get your teeth done in Turkey you might want to look into Periodonta, a dental clinic in Turkey. They have excellent costs and quality of operations for people traveling from the USA. You can check their website out at https://www.periodonta.com/
How does dentistry in Turkey work?
In Turkey, there are both dental clinics and private practices. The clinics often consist of the same private offices – that is, the doctors simply rent space there. Istanbul and Antalya seem to have dental clinics with a registry and some kind of centralized management, but we did not encounter any.
Doctors may or may not cooperate with the NOC. If you are in Turkey for a vacation or have a long-term residence permit, it does not matter: you are only insured for foreigners for very serious cases, like abscesses. If you already have a permanent residence permit or a residence permit for foreigners and you pay the insurance premiums, it makes sense to choose a doctor who works with the health insurance fund. In this case, you only pay a part of the treatment costs.
Let\’s get into the details, this is important and there is a lot of misinformation about this on the web. In theory, you are entitled to three free fillings made with the cheapest materials. In practice, this does not mean that you have to get these fillings. Simply, the doctor will deduct a certain amount from the cost of your treatment (whatever it may be), and the quality will not suffer. So, if you have a blue book, make sure you take it to the dentist. And if you don\’t have one, be sure to get one by contacting your G.P. Children with ossifications are entitled to four treatments per year, two of which are for the treatment of pulpitis or periodontitis of a permanent tooth.
A tip for osiguropayers: try not to postpone dental treatment to the last day of the year. As early as November, advertisements are posted on the doors of many dental offices, stating that all the payment limits of the health insurance fund have expired. We haven\’t looked into this yet, but we\’re assuming that the amount of money the ZNC pays a doctor per year is capped in some way.
The equipment in doctors\’ offices can vary widely. Boron machines are modern everywhere, but the furniture can be very different. Some are renovated, others have dilapidated walls, dirty floors and dust flying out the window.
Dentists in Turkey
Shoe covers are not very common in Turkey. But our doctor has such a device to put shoe covers in the waiting room when the weather is bad.
There are many dentists in Turkey. Really many. There are more dental offices in clinics, less in the streets of big cities, and even less in small towns, but they exist. Even in the big villages, a dentist sees another dentist at least once a week. Why the waiting lists are so long is a mystery.
Our dentist must make an appointment at least two weeks in advance. If you are in severe pain, you can come and sit in the waiting room, someone may be late or not show up, and then you will be admitted. But you usually have to plan your visit in advance. And our impression was that this is the case with all dentists, not just the best ones.
For tourists and people who have just arrived in Turkey, it is important that the doctor speaks more than Turkish only, especially if they have to give long explanations. But it is a matter of luck. Language skills and professionalism do not always coincide. In general, older doctors understand English. But it is better to be prepared in advance, write down the translation of the necessary terms on a sheet of paper and arm yourself with a Google translator, than to have a heart-to-heart talk with a doctor in his native language and get a filling that will fall out in a month. By the way, we have never heard of any guarantees on fillings in Turkey. We put them in and then as you wish. By the way, some fillings have been in place for 9 years already and they are like new. Turkish dentist does not charge for a second appointment if the filled tooth, for example, still hurts: he takes pictures, solves the problem, gives recommendations. And it is said that some professionals charge, even if the cause of the problem is their mistakes.
Prices of dental services in Turkey
The vast majority of dentists do not have a website, so the cost of treatment can only be found out on the spot. It is recommended to do this in advance, as the cost can vary by several times (and so can the quality, but this can only be verified by experience). However you can expect that the prices that you find in Turkish dental clinics will be about 1/6 th of what you’d find in the USA.
