Dental Tourism & NHS Crisis: Turkey Teeth Trends & Interview Guide 2025
- Dr Sonal
- 2 hours ago
- 9 min read
This blog article was written by Dr Sonal (qualified NHS dentist) and Tanisha Sharma (medical student and content writer at TheUKCATPeople)
As a practising NHS dentist and lead mentor at TheUKCATPeople, I frequently treat patients suffering from complications after travelling abroad for dental work. Dental tourism is one of the most significant hot topics for this year's application cycle, and interviewers expect you to understand the clinical, ethical, and financial implications it places on the UK dental system.
Quick Answer: Dental tourism involves UK patients travelling overseas to countries like Turkey or Hungary for cheaper cosmetic or restorative dental treatments. For dentistry applicants, this is a critical interview topic because it highlights the tension between patient autonomy and the strain on NHS resources caused by repairing failed overseas work.
Summary:
Dental tourism is where patients travel to foreign countries to receive dental and cosmetic procedures.
There are many reasons why patients travel out of the UK, such as cheaper costs and avoiding long waiting lists.
There are negative implications of dental tourism, such as post-operative complications, a lack of patients being fully informed and no continuity of care.
Complications include abscesses, damage to nerves and sepsis.
To minimise these risks, consult your UK doctor and ensure that your chosen clinic is internationally accredited.
What Is Dental Tourism And Why Is It Rising?
Dental tourism is the practice of patients travelling to foreign countries to receive dental care, often combining treatment with a holiday. The primary drivers are significantly lower costs for cosmetic procedures like veneers and implants compared to UK private fees, alongside the desire to bypass long NHS waiting lists for restorative treatment.
In my experience working in general practice, I have seen a sharp rise in this trend. Recent data from the British Dental Association (BDA) indicates that 95% of dentists have examined patients who have travelled abroad for dental treatment. The global dental tourism market is projected to grow significantly, meaning this issue will remain relevant throughout your career.
Patients are often enticed by "all-inclusive" packages that promise a "Hollywood Smile" for a fraction of the UK price. However, as noted by the Oral Health Foundation, these packages often fail to account for the long-term biological cost to the patient's teeth.
Dental tourism is becoming increasingly more prevalent, with a survey finding that 95% of dentists reported that they have consulted with patients who have travelled abroad for procedures.
86% of these dentists stated that they treated patients who faced complications following the treatment.
The dentists reported that crowns and implants were the most likely to require follow-up consultations. This industry is expected to grow by 22% until 2030.
Key Takeaway: The main drivers for dental tourism are cost savings, avoiding waiting lists, and aggressive social media marketing of cosmetic packages.
Why Do Patients Choose Treatment Abroad Over The NHS?
Patients primarily choose treatment abroad due to the perceived high cost of private UK dentistry and the limited availability of NHS appointments. Many patients I speak to feel priced out of cosmetic dentistry in the UK and see overseas clinics as their only option to achieve the aesthetics they desire without incurring debt.
Accessibility is another major factor. With the current NHS dentistry crisis, some patients struggle to find a local NHS dentist for routine care, let alone complex restorative work. This desperation, combined with slick marketing campaigns showing transformative results, makes the risks seem worth taking for many individuals.
However, it is crucial to understand that UK dentistry is highly regulated by the General Dental Council (GDC), ensuring strict adherence to safety and ethical standards. Overseas clinics may not always operate under such rigorous frameworks, which is a key point to raise during your interviews.
How much do some of these treatments cost?
Cheaper costs are typically offered overseas. For example, veneers cost around £3000 in Turkey, in contrast to £8,000-£16,000 in the UK. Similarly, dental implants are £400 in Turkey, compared to £2,000 in the UK. Patients can save up to 70% by travelling abroad for the procedure.
Key Takeaway: Patients are often motivated by financial constraints and access issues within the UK dental system, leading them to prioritise short-term aesthetics over regulated safety.
What are popular dental procedures abroad?
There are popular treatments that patients can travel abroad for. These include:
Implants. This involves the replacement of missing teeth using crowns or titanium
Implants are popular in Turkey, Hungary and Mexico.
Veneers and Crowns. This is where composite layers are added to the teeth for aesthetic purposes and are commonly marketed as the ‘Hollywood Smile’.
Teeth Whitening. This is also often included as a package for ‘smile makeovers’.
Extractions and root canals can be offered at low prices if the patient requires extensive work.
What Are The Main Clinical Risks Associated With 'Turkey Teeth'?
The clinical risks associated with dental tourism include severe infections, nerve damage, and occlusal problems due to aggressive tooth reduction. A survey highlighted in the British Dental Journal (BDJ) found that 86% of dentists treated cases that developed complications following overseas treatment.
One of the most distressing things I see as a dentist is a young patient with irreversible damage to healthy teeth. A common complication is ill-fitting restorations that trap bacteria, leading to decay that goes unnoticed until it causes severe pain.
Other complications I encounter include:
Peri-implantitis: Inflammation around implants placed in compromised bone.
Occlusal trauma: Poorly adjusted bites causing jaw pain or TMJ issues.
Sepsis: In rare but severe cases, untreated dental abscesses can lead to life-threatening systemic infection.
Communication Failure: The GDC Guidance emphasises informed consent, which is often compromised due to language barriers abroad.
Key Takeaway: The aggressive nature of some overseas treatments often leads to irreversible nerve damage, chronic infection, and early tooth loss.
What are some of the issues with dental tourism?
Issues with high-quality care
Dental standards often differ from country to country, and some countries may not have stringent, high-quality regulations compared to the General Dental Practice ( GDC) and CQC.
There are concerns about infection control. Certain practices may have a lack of follow-up care, and consequently, this increases the risk of contracting post-operative complications. Lack of sterilisation could increase the risk of bacterial infections, abscesses or sepsis.
Lack of continuity of care
There will be differences between the way UK and foreign dentists approach certain procedures. Therefore, patient may face a lack of aftercare for their dental procedures.
Hidden financial issues
Resolving post-operative complications could actually cost more than the original treatment.
Legal liability concerns
Dental care providers may not be liable for any complications or conditions that develop post-operatively. Legal protection for placing complaints is often weaker abroad.
Therefore, seeking legal help would place an additional financial pressure on the patient.
Communication barriers
The lack of strong communication with the dental professional could result in the patient not being fully informed about the procedure or potential risks.
Issues with insurance policies
Insurance companies may not cover the total cost of the procedure.
How Does Dental Tourism Impact The NHS?
Dental tourism significantly impacts the NHS by increasing the burden on emergency dental services and requiring costly remedial work. When patients return with complications like bleeding, swelling, or infection, they often turn to the NHS for help because they cannot afford to fly back to the original clinic or pay for private repair in the UK.
This creates a difficult resource allocation issue. As an NHS dentist, I have a duty of care to relieve pain and treat infection. However, the NHS is not funded to fix complex cosmetic failures. We often have to stabilise the patient, which might mean extracting a tooth that could have been saved with expensive private specialist treatment.
According to a BDA survey report, nearly two-thirds of dentists reported that patients had to pay at least £500 for remedial treatment, with some costs exceeding £5,000. This diverts appointments and funding away from routine NHS patients, exacerbating the existing access crisis.
Key Takeaway: Correcting failed overseas treatment places a financial and clinical strain on the NHS, diverting resources from routine patient care.
Which Ethical Pillars Apply To Dental Tourism Cases?
The ethical pillars most relevant to dental tourism are Autonomy, Non-maleficence, and Justice. You must demonstrate to interviewers that you can balance a patient's right to choose their provider (Autonomy) against the risk of harm (Non-maleficence) and the fair distribution of NHS resources (Justice).
Autonomy: Patients have the right to choose where they have treatment. However, for autonomy to be valid, it must be informed. Often, patients are not fully aware of the risks or the difference in regulatory standards.
Non-maleficence (Do no harm): This is complex. While the UK dentist didn't cause the harm, we must ensure our remedial treatment doesn't make things worse. We also face the dilemma of whether to treat complex cases that are outside our competency.
Justice: Is it fair for the NHS to bear the cost of fixing complications from elective commercial cosmetic tourism? This is a potent discussion point for TheUKCATPeople's Dentistry Interview Coaching sessions.
Key Takeaway: Applicants must weigh Patient Autonomy against the Justice of using public funds to repair private, elective overseas work.
👉🏻 Read more: Dentistry application guide
How Can Applicants Prepare For Questions On Dental Tourism?
To prepare for dental tourism questions, you must move beyond basic facts and practise applying ethical frameworks to specific scenarios. Examiners are looking for nuance - you should not simply condemn patients for going abroad, but show empathy for their financial situation while clearly outlining the clinical realities.
When students ask me for the best way to prepare for these hot topics, I tell them to look beyond just reading news articles or using generic question banks. Many popular resources or books on the market are incomplete, offering only surface-level arguments without the clinical depth required for a top answer. In my professional experience, this single-focus approach fails to build the complex reasoning skills examiners are looking for. This is precisely why we developed TheUKCATPeople's Dentistry Interview Tutoring to provide a complete, guided solution where we simulate these exact ethical debates with qualified dentists.
You should be ready to discuss the role of the GDC Standards in these scenarios, particularly regarding informed consent and complaint handling.
Key Takeaway: Success in interviews requires demonstrating empathy for the patient while strictly adhering to GDC guidelines and ethical principles.
👉🏻 Read more: Dentistry hot topics - Dental Amalgams
Dental Tourism Example Interview Questions
Here are the types of questions I often use in mock interviews to test a student's understanding of this topic.
Likely Questions (High Priority):
What is dental tourism, and why is it considered a 'hot topic' in dentistry?
Discuss the ethical implications of a patient returning from abroad with a dental infection.
How does dental tourism impact the NHS dental service?
If a patient asked for your advice on going to Turkey for veneers, what would you say?
Less Likely Questions (Harder/Niche):
Should the NHS charge patients for remedial work following elective overseas treatment?
How do regulatory standards in the UK compare to those in popular dental tourism destinations?
👉🏻 Read more: Dentistry entry requirements
Dental Tourism Example Interview Questions
What is dental tourism?
Discuss an issue currently facing the NHS.
Why do patients travel abroad for dental treatments?
Difficult - less likely to come up!
How can we minimise the risks of dental tourism?
How can we ensure that patients are fully informed when travelling abroad for dental work?
Discuss dental tourism with reference to the four ethical pillars.
Dental Tourism FAQs
What is the 'Turkey Teeth' trend?
'Turkey Teeth' is a colloquial term referring to the trend of travelling to Turkey for aggressive cosmetic dental procedures, often involving crowning multiple healthy teeth. It has gained notoriety due to high complication rates cited by the BDA.
Why are dental implants cheaper abroad?
Dental implants are cheaper abroad due to lower labour costs, lower operational overheads for clinics, and sometimes the use of cheaper implant brands. However, different implant systems may not be compatible with UK tools, making maintenance difficult for UK dentists.
Can NHS dentists fix dental tourism work?
NHS dentists can treat acute pain and infection (like an abscess) to stabilise the patient as per NHS guidance. However, they are generally not funded to repair or replace complex cosmetic work like failed bridges or aesthetic veneers.
Is dental tourism illegal?
No, dental tourism is not illegal. Patients have the right to seek medical or dental care in any country they choose. However, once they return to the UK, the legal recourse for poor treatment abroad is very limited compared to UK protections.
What should I do if I have complications from dental tourism?
If you have a life-threatening emergency like swelling affecting breathing, go to A&E. For dental pain, contact a dentist. Be aware that NHS treatment may be limited to pain relief or extraction, and complex repair work may require a private specialist.
How does the GDC view dental tourism?
The General Dental Council (GDC) advises patients to be fully informed of the risks. They emphasise that overseas dentists are not under their jurisdiction, meaning the GDC cannot investigate complaints or take action against the practitioner if treatment fails.
Do travel insurance policies cover dental work?
Most standard travel insurance policies do not cover complications arising from elective medical or dental procedures. Patients usually need specialist medical tourism insurance; otherwise, they are liable for all corrective costs.
What are the most common procedures sought abroad?
The most common procedures are cosmetic veneers ("smile makeovers"), dental implants, and crowns. These are high-cost items in the UK, making the potential savings abroad appear very attractive to patients.
How can I discuss this in my personal statement?
You can mention dental tourism as a current issue you have researched to demonstrate your awareness of the wider dental landscape. Relate it to the importance of ethical practice and the challenges of patient education.
Where can I find more dental interview topics?
You can find comprehensive guides on our Dentistry Application Guide page, which covers other hot topics like fluoridation, the sugar tax, and the NHS contract.
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