Compare
Treatment here, or treatment abroad?
You've seen what's available locally. This is the other option, set out with the arithmetic in full — including the cases where staying at home is the right answer.
The short version
- Whether dental treatment abroad is worth it depends on how much work you need, not on which country is cheaper. For a full arch, several implants or a full set of veneers the gap runs to thousands. For one crown or one veneer it does not survive two flights and a hotel.
- The number that decides it is the all-in cost — treatment, flights for every trip the treatment needs, hotel and transfers — measured against the middle of the UK private range.
- The clearest advantage of treatment at home is continuity and redress: your own dentist can see you next week, and the General Dental Council regulates the person who treated you. Neither transfers abroad.
- What narrows that gap is being examined in the UK before anything is booked, a written plan with a fixed price, a written guarantee, and aftercare appointments you can reach without a flight.
- Dental Journey Turkey is run by Ballıpınar Dental, a clinic in Antalya. Read the case for travelling with that in mind — and the case against, which is on this page in the same size type.
The arithmetic
Work it out for your own case
Treatment, flights from your nearest airport and the hotel — the total, not the treatment price. No email required.
What would the whole thing cost?
Treatment, flights and hotel — the real total, not just the treatment price. No email required.
IndicativeTypical market figures, not a quote — the clinic's own price list is not signed off yet. Your written price is fixed after the UK examination and does not move afterwards unless you agree a change.
- Typical in Aberdeen
- £2,000–£3,500
- All-in with us
- £1,180–£1,850
- You'd save at least
- £900
incl. 2 return flights + 10 nights
Flights from Edinburgh, hotel and transfers are already in that total. The saving is measured against the middle of the UK range — if your local quote is higher than that, so is your saving.
Want it itemised rather than calculated — treatment, flights and hotel as separate lines, treatment by treatment? The full price comparison sets out every figure and where it came from.
Both sides
When it's worth it, and when it isn't
We treat patients in Antalya, so read the left-hand column with that in mind. The right-hand column is the part most sites like this leave out.
- The treatment price gap is real, and it comes from wages, premises and lab fees rather than from anything being cut.
- For substantial work — full arches, several implants, a full set of veneers — the gap runs to thousands, and flights are a rounding error against it.
- NHS dentistry doesn't fund implants or cosmetic work except in narrow clinical circumstances, so for most people the comparison is private-vs-private.
- You're examined in the UK first, so the plan and the price are settled before anyone books a flight.
- For one implant, one crown or a filling, it doesn't pay. Once two flights and a fortnight are in the sum, the difference stops covering the disruption.
- You give up continuity. Your own dentist can see you next week; that's worth something real, and no clinic abroad fully replaces it.
- Implants need two trips months apart. If your dates are tight or your work won't allow it, this isn't the year for it.
- If you smoke heavily or have untreated gum disease, the answer may be to fix that first — wherever you have the work done.
Beyond the price
The comparison that isn't about money
Who examines you, who is responsible, and what happens if it goes wrong — set out both ways round.
| Private treatment in the UK | Treatment in Antalya with us | |
|---|---|---|
| Who examines you first | Your dentist, in the practice, before any plan is made. | A dentist in the UK, in person, before anything is booked — then treatment in Antalya. |
| What you get before committing | A treatment plan and an estimate, usually itemised. | A written plan tooth by tooth with a fixed price, yours to take away and compare. |
| How the time is spent | Short appointments spread over weeks or months. | One or two trips of five to eight nights, with the healing time waited out at home. |
| Travel and time off work | Local, but more separate days away from work. | Two flights per trip, and a solid block of days rather than scattered ones. |
| Continuity of care | Your own dentist, who knows your history and can see you next week. Hard to beat, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. | A London office and aftercare clinic, plus consultation days around the UK — but not the same as the practice down the road. |
| Who regulates the treatment | The General Dental Council, with the Dental Complaints Service for private care. | The Turkish Ministry of Health. The GDC's remit does not extend to treatment carried out abroad — a genuine difference, and the strongest argument on this page for staying at home. |
| If something fails | Back to the practice that did it, under whatever guarantee it offers. | A written guarantee and a UK point of contact. Read what it covers and for how long before you agree to anything. |
| What drives the price | Clinical salaries, premises and laboratory fees at UK rates. | The same work at Turkish salary, premises and laboratory rates. The materials cost much the same in both countries. |
The clinic behind this site
Ballıpınar Dental, Antalya
We built this directory because the alternative — another page telling you how much you'd save — isn't much use to someone actually deciding what to do about their teeth. The local listings are unpaid and stay that way.
What makes us worth a conversation isn't the price. It's that we're already here:
A London office
Ballıpınar's UK base — the point of contact before you travel and after you're home, in the same time zone as you.
A London aftercare clinic
Follow-up appointments happen in the UK, not by email from another country. This is the part most dental-tourism clinics have no answer for.
Face-to-face consultation days around the UK
Newcastle, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham, Glasgow and Edinburgh — so the UK step isn't only available to people who can reach the capital.
Free dental meet-ups
Open sessions where you can be seen and get a treatment plan without committing to anything at all.
Platinum sponsor, Gillingham FC
A public, checkable commitment to a UK community — not a badge we made ourselves.
Each of these is published on Ballıpınar's own site and can be checked. We'd rather you did.
How it works
Nothing is booked until you've been examined here
Two of the seven steps happen before you leave the country. That's the part that turns an estimate from a photograph into a plan you can hold.
Send us photos and any X-rays you have
OnlineA few photos of your teeth and whatever your UK dentist has already given you. We come back with an idea of what's possible and a ballpark cost — free, and with no obligation to go further.
See us in person in the UK
In the UKWe examine you face to face at a clinic in the UK before anything is booked. It's the step that lets us plan properly rather than guess from a photograph, and it means you meet someone before you commit to flying.
Get a written plan with a fixed price
In the UKTooth by tooth: what's being done, which materials, how many trips, and what the total is. Nothing on it changes once you've agreed it, and anything not included is listed as not included.
Fly to Antalya
In AntalyaYou book the flights; we arrange the airport transfer and hotel. Your coordinator has your schedule and meets you on arrival.
Treatment at the clinic
In AntalyaCarried out by the dental team at Ballıpınar in Antalya, to the plan you signed off. Your coordinator stays with you across appointments.
Recover — and see something of Antalya
In AntalyaMost treatments leave gaps between appointments. How you spend them is up to you; we'll tell you honestly what your mouth will be up to in that first week.
Follow-up and guarantee
In AntalyaA check-in after you're home, a UK point of contact, and a written guarantee that spells out what's covered and for how long.
Fair questions
Who runs this comparison?
Dental Journey Turkey is operated by Ballıpınar Dental, a dental clinic in Antalya. So we have an interest in one side of it — which is exactly why this page states the case against travelling as plainly as the case for, and why the calculator tells you when the sums don't work.
Do the clinics in your directory pay you?
No. Nothing in the directory is paid placement, no practice can buy a better position, and none of them has any relationship with us. The listings are compiled from public listings and refreshed monthly.
What would I actually commit to?
Nothing, until you have a written plan and have said yes to it. The plan is yours to take away — plenty of people use it to get a second opinion from their own dentist.
How do I know the quality is comparable?
You check, the same way you would at home: ask which implant system, ask to see the certificate, ask what the guarantee covers and who you contact from the UK. Our guides list the questions in full, and they apply to us as much as to anyone else.
Who regulates dental treatment carried out abroad?
Not the General Dental Council. The GDC registers and regulates dentists practising in the UK, and its complaints route — including the Dental Complaints Service for private care — does not reach treatment carried out in another country. Dentistry in Türkiye is regulated by the Turkish Ministry of Health. That is a real difference between the two options and one of the strongest arguments for staying at home. What we put against it is a written guarantee, a UK point of contact and aftercare appointments in London — not a claim that the difference does not exist.
What happens if something goes wrong after I get home?
You contact the UK office, not an international number. Ballıpınar keeps a London office and a London aftercare clinic, and every plan carries a written guarantee stating what is covered and for how long. Ask for that document before you agree to anything — from us or from anyone else — because a guarantee described on a website and a guarantee written into your plan are different things.
Will my own dentist see me after treatment abroad?
Most will see you for routine care. Some are reluctant to take on responsibility for someone else's implant or crown work, which is a fair position rather than a snub — they did not plan it and cannot warranty it. It is far easier if you arrive with a written record of exactly what was done, which is one of the practical reasons the plan is written down tooth by tooth.
Is it cheaper to have dental work done in Turkey?
For substantial work, yes, and by a margin that survives flights and a hotel being added to the sum. For a single crown, one veneer or a filling, no. The calculator on this page is the way to tell which of those you are, because the answer depends on how many units you need rather than on which country is cheaper in the abstract.
How long does the whole thing take, compared with treatment at home?
Implant treatment takes months either way — the healing time is biological, not logistical, and it is the same in Britain as in Türkiye. What differs is how the time is spent: at home it is a series of short appointments spread across those months; abroad it is two trips of under a week each, with the waiting done from home in between.
No obligation
Start with a written plan and a fixed price
No cost, no obligation, and nothing booked until you have a written plan in front of you. If it turns out you're better off treated at home, we'll say so.
We'll tell you if you're better off treated at home.