We’re sure there’s a joke to be had somewhere about a turkey having a cavity filled but we can’t think of one.
Moving swiftly on…
Firstly, get that weird image out of your head; this is not about turkeys with teeth, repeat, not turkeys with teeth!
Dental tourism (yes, that’s a thing), has become massive in the past few years, with people travelling abroad to get dental treatment done because it’s much cheaper to do it there than in their own country. People travelling to get veneers in Turkey has proven especially popular, with literally hundreds of thousands of people flocking there to get rock-bottom-priced dental procedures performed, hence the term ‘Turkey Teeth.’
But should you trust such procedures? What are the pros and cons of having dental treatment done abroad? Have we been involved with correcting any veneer disasters that were performed in Turkey? Read on to find out more.
Getting your teeth done in Turkey
Now we’ve answered the ‘what are Turkey teeth?’ question, let’s look into why people do it. Let’s be honest, dental treatment can be expensive and you can get these treatments up to 50% cheaper abroad, but when you consider that you may have a lifetime of expensive dental work in front of you if the procedure goes wrong then it becomes significantly less appealing.
But what are they doing that’s so bad? Well, we’ve seen instances where cosmetic dentists in Turkey have actually removed people’s nerves and have fitted them with crowns instead of veneers – and the client is completely oblivious to the fact that this wasn’t needed at all.
Difference between composite veneers and crowns
Getting veneers fitted is a quick, painless procedure where a tooth-shaped piece of resin is bonded to the front of the tooth or teeth and then polished to match the colour of your other teeth. Composite veneers can be used to cover up gaps, small cracks, and chips, or even just to improve the appearance of the teeth.
Having crowns fitted, on the other hand, can be a far more invasive procedure.
Usually involving more than one visit to the dentist’s chair, the interior of the tooth needs to be as clean as possible before the crown, or ‘cap,’ can be attached to the top of the tooth (this is why cosmetic dentists in Turkey are removing nerves). In addition to this, crowns sometimes require the original tooth to be filed down so that the cap will fit snuggly.
Don’t get us wrong, having a crown is a completely routine procedure, is extremely effective and can look phenomenal, but we can’t advocate them being done just to put on a show for dental tourists.
So, are veneers worth it?
Are veneers worth it? Yes, absolutely.
Are bad veneers worth it? Definitely not.
A staggering 86% of UK dentists have reported having to fix a botch job from a procedure that had been done abroad. Long-term pain, exposed nerves, sensitive teeth, badly fitting and snapped veneers and crowns, infected gums, swelling, and bleeding are just some of the side effects that have been reported from Turkey Teeth procedures. Not good.
But perhaps the worst thing about these cheaper abroad alternatives is that they are scaring people off from having the procedures done here in the UK when they are perfectly safe.
In the UK – especially at Smile Chic – we have state-of-the-art, hygienic facilities, registered professionals performing the procedures, access to your historical dental records, and treatment you can trust. We show you exactly what procedure we will be carrying out, what is involved and, in many cases, we can give you a 3D reference of what the finished product will look like to give you confidence in the process.
If you are considering treatment abroad our advice would be to do your research. Like, A LOT of research. However, we’d also say that you should book a consultation with us first because the treatment you want might not be as expensive as you were first thinking.