Our dental clinic evaluation methodology

We introduce patients to a small number of clinics rather than listing everything in Istanbul. This page sets out what a clinic has to satisfy, and, just as important, what our checks cannot tell you.

The checks

Licensing and clinical staffing

Current authorisation to operate from the Turkish health authority, dentists registered to practise, and named clinicians responsible for the work rather than a rotating pool. Surgical procedures carried out by clinicians who do that work regularly, not by whoever is free.

Written plans and quotes

A written treatment plan and an itemised quote before any treatment begins, in English, with the number of units, the materials to be used and the guarantee terms on the same document. A clinic that will only discuss price verbally does not pass.

Materials and traceability

Named implant systems and named ceramics rather than "premium European brand". You should be able to leave with documentation of what was actually placed in your mouth, because in ten years' time a dentist in your own country will need to know.

Facilities and sterilisation

On-site imaging, documented sterilisation procedure, single-use items where they should be single-use, and a laboratory arrangement that can be described rather than gestured at.

Guarantee and what happens if something fails

Guarantee terms in writing, including what is covered, for how long, what voids it and who pays for travel if remedial work is needed. A guarantee that only exists in a WhatsApp message is not a guarantee.

Aftercare and continuity

A named contact after you fly home, willingness to send your records to your own dentist, and a realistic answer to the question of what happens if a problem appears at month eight rather than week two.

Language and consent

Consent and treatment documents in a language you actually read, and interpreting available for the clinical conversation, not just for the sales conversation.

Automatic disqualifiers

Any one of these ends the discussion regardless of how well a clinic scores elsewhere.

• Pressure to commit before you have a written plan, or a price that expires if you do not decide today.
• Refusal to name the implant system or ceramic being used.
• Preparing healthy teeth for crowns where a more conservative option is clinically appropriate: the single most common complaint pattern in this sector.
• Quoting a final surgical price without an examination.
• Adding a charge because a patient arrived through us.
• Advertising an outcome with retouched or misattributed photographs.
• Discouraging a patient from taking their records home or sharing them with their own dentist.

What this evaluation cannot tell you

Honesty about the limits matters more here than the checklist. Our evaluation is carried out from outside the treatment room. It is a filter for how a clinic organises itself, documents its work and behaves commercially. It is not a clinical audit, it is not a hygiene inspection, and it cannot predict the outcome of your particular case.

Skill varies between clinicians inside the same clinic. Complex cases go differently from simple ones. Individual healing varies. A clinic that meets every criterion here can still produce a result you are unhappy with, and no evaluation published on a website changes that.

Which is why the useful advice is unglamorous: get the plan in writing, ask what happens if it fails, keep your documentation, and be suspicious of anyone who makes the decision feel easy.

Ongoing review and removal

An introduction is not permanent. Patient complaints that reveal a pattern, a change in how a clinic quotes or documents its work, or a failure to honour guarantee terms all trigger a fresh look, and we stop working with clinics that stop meeting the criteria. If your experience does not match what this page describes, the complaints procedure is how you tell us.

Information only. Treatment suitability requires an examination by a qualified dental professional.