Turkey Teeth Guide What they are, how to do it right

• Zirconia crowns from £145
• E.max veneers £185
• 20 crowns £2,900
• Hotel and VIP transfer included
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What are "Turkey teeth"?

Turkey teeth are cosmetic dental treatments carried out in Turkey — usually a full set of crowns or veneers on the teeth that show when you smile, sometimes implants — and the name the British press and social media gave them. The phrase became common in the UK around 2021 and 2022, and it was never a compliment: it described a particular look, very white, very large, perfectly identical crowns on people who had flown out for a week and come back with a new smile.

It is worth separating the two things the phrase has come to mean. One is a result — the over-bright, over-sized set that looks the same on everyone, which is what people picture when they say it. The other is simply the treatment: crowns, veneers and implants, the same procedures UK dentists carry out every day, done in Turkey because they cost a fraction of the price. The result everyone notices is the bad example. Good work is invisible, which is exactly the point: a well-made set of veneers or crowns looks like your own teeth on a very good day, and nobody on the train home can tell.

This guide explains what the treatments actually are, what they are made of, why some go wrong and how a well-run clinic makes sure yours doesn't — written by the clinic that would be doing the work.

What are Turkey teeth made of?

Turkey teeth are usually made of E.max, a lithium disilicate glass-ceramic used for veneers and crowns, or of monolithic zirconia, a very strong ceramic used for crowns — and at a good clinic never of composite resin. Implants are titanium screws from established makers; the crowns on them are zirconia.

Every crown and veneer at TUA Dental is made in our own CAD/CAM lab from a digital 3D scan of your mouth, so the fit is to a fraction of a millimetre and a shade or shape adjustment at the try-in is done the same day. Implants come from established manufacturers — Straumann, Nobel Biocare, Dentsply Sirona, Neodent, Medentika, Osstem, MegaGen, Dentium, Nucleoss, Bilimplant and Implance — and every implant has a passport that records its make, size and batch, so any dentist anywhere can look after it. Materials are the first thing to ask a clinic about: if a quote doesn't name them, the price means nothing.

Veneers, crowns or implants: which treatment is right for you?

There are four treatments behind the phrase, and the right one depends on the state of each tooth: a veneer for a healthy tooth you want to look different, a crown for a damaged tooth, an implant for a missing tooth and All-on-4 or All-on-6 for a jaw with no teeth left to save. At TUA Dental the dentist decides tooth by tooth from your photographs and 3D scan, and the free treatment plan says which each tooth gets.

A smile makeover often mixes the first two — veneers where the tooth is sound, crowns where it isn't — and that is the single most important decision in the whole treatment: how much tooth each one removes is the difference between a veneer and a crown, and it has its own chapter in this guide — veneers vs crowns: shaving, materials and colour chart.

Why do some Turkey teeth go wrong?

Three avoidable mistakes account for almost every bad result you have read about: healthy teeth shaved down for crowns they never needed, treatment rushed into a few days with no design and no try-in, and nobody to call when something feels wrong back home. None of them is caused by the country, and all three are caused by the clinic.

You may have read that teeth are filed to pegs, that implants are loaded before the bone has healed, that the same bright white goes on everyone. Each of those is a decision a clinic makes — to crown a tooth that only needed a veneer, to skip the healing time an implant needs, to use one shade instead of choosing it with the patient — and each has a straightforward prevention, which is what the next section is about. Why Turkey teeth go wrong and how to avoid it sets out all seven mistakes we see, the prevention for each, and what happens if you need help after you get home.

How to do Turkey teeth right: the TUA Dental way

Six things separate a smile that looks like yours from one that looks like everybody's, and TUA Dental builds all six into every treatment plan. The clinic completes more than 220 smile designs a year this way, led by our Principal Dentist Tuğçe Arslan, who has placed more than 2,200 implants herself.

1. Digital smile design before any tooth is touched. Your new teeth are designed to your face — lip line, midline, skin tone — and nothing is prepared until you have approved the design. On day two the design is placed in your mouth as a mock-up, and you approve the shape, length and shade in a mirror, not from a shade card, before anything is fitted.
2. As little tooth as possible. Veneers where teeth are sound (0.3–0.7 mm prepared), crowns only where a tooth needs one. Your plan says which each tooth gets, and why.
3. 3D planning. A CT scan in the clinic before any implant, so the implant goes exactly where the bone is, and a digital scan instead of impression trays for every crown and veneer.
4. Our own CAD/CAM lab. Your teeth are made in our own lab, so a shade or shape adjustment at the try-in is done the same day and the materials are the ones named in your plan — E.max, monolithic zirconia, branded implants.
5. A dentist with a name. You know who plans your treatment before you book, and the plan carries that dentist's name and registration. Five dentists, including a specialist in periodontology, work as one team from the same digital plan and the same records.
6. Aftercare and a guarantee you can read. Your coordinator stays in touch after you fly home, your dentist reviews your photographs whenever you want, and the guarantee is written down: lifetime on all implants, five years on crowns — plus an implant passport and treatment record for your own dentist.

The result is a smile designed for one face. If you want it brighter, it is made brighter — but you choose with the mock-up in your mouth, and the shape still follows your face.

Send six photos, get your free treatment plan+90 551 850 04 90

What do Turkey teeth cost?

At TUA Dental a zirconia crown costs £145, an E.max veneer £185 and a full set of 20 zirconia crowns £2,900, with hotel and VIP transfer included. A dental implant with a zirconia crown is £375, and All-on-4 is £2,660 per jaw.

Your treatment price includes the consultation, 3D scan and treatment plan. Hotel and VIP transfer included: we take you between Izmir airport, your hotel and the clinic. Flights are not included; we help you plan them, free. No hidden costs: the price in your treatment plan is the price you pay. The full 2026 price list has every treatment, what each package includes, and set prices for 8, 10, 20 and 24 teeth; the cost calculator adds up your own plan in pounds or euro. How these prices compare with the UK: dental implants, full-mouth implants, and veneers and crowns.

How it works: from photos to your new smile

Three steps take you from your first message to your new smile, and the first two happen before you book a flight. Crowns and veneers take one visit of six days; implants take two visits of three and six days with two to three months of healing between them.

1. Send six photos of your teeth on WhatsApp or through the form — your smile, front, both sides, upper and lower. The dentist reviews them and asks for anything else they need.
2. Your free treatment plan arrives with every tooth and its price, which treatment each tooth gets and why, how many days you need and when you can fly. The price in it is the price you pay.
3. Your visit. For crowns and veneers: day one is the examination, 3D scan and smile design and, once you have approved the design, the preparation and temporary teeth; day two the mock-up of your new smile in your mouth; days three and four further try-ins while your crowns or veneers are made in our own lab; day five the fitting; day six the final check before your transfer to the airport. For implants: a three-day first visit — the implants are placed on day one — healing at home, and a six-day second visit for the crowns.

Your English-speaking patient coordinator is with you from the first message to the last check-up, and the VIP transfer meets you at Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport, about 45 minutes from the clinic.

How long do you stay, and how long do they last?

Crowns, veneers and a Hollywood Smile take one visit of six days, planned over up to eight for larger sets; implants and All-on-4 take two visits of three and six days. With good care, crowns and veneers last many years, and implants are made to last a lifetime — which is why ours carry a lifetime guarantee on every implant.

How long each treatment lasts, and what makes the difference, has a chapter of its own in this guide: how long Turkey teeth last, with the ten-year figures for veneers, crowns and implants.

Choosing a clinic in Turkey: what the official lists tell you

The UK government's travel-health advice for Turkey points patients to one place: "The Turkish Ministry of Health provides a list of its approved medical providers on the HealthTurkiye website." TUA Dental holds the Ministry's international health tourism licence and is on that list; it is also a member of the Turkish Dental Association and certified to ISO 9001.

The same gov.uk page tells you to "do your own research" and to discuss your plans with your UK doctor or dentist, and we agree with both. Five checks tell you most of what you need to know about any clinic before you book:

• a named dentist, with the registration you can check;
• an itemised written plan with every tooth and its price — before you pay anything;
• a design you approve before any tooth is prepared, and a try-in before anything is fitted;
• the materials and implant brands named in writing, with an implant passport;
• a written guarantee and a named person to contact after you get home.

We pass all five, in writing, before you travel. The full ten-point checklist — and the red flags that should make you walk away from any clinic, including ours — is in how to check a clinic before you book. If you are weighing Turkey against other countries, dental implants abroad compares them on price, flight time and safety.

Ask for your free, itemised treatment plan+90 551 850 04 90

Why Kuşadası, and what if you're coming from Ireland?

TUA Dental is in Kuşadası, a world-famous holiday destination on the Aegean 45 minutes from Izmir airport, with direct flights from London Stansted, Gatwick, Manchester and Dublin. You stay in a hotel near the clinic, hotel and VIP transfer included, with Ephesus half an hour away and the beach between appointments.

Our Kuşadası page has the flights from each airport, season by season, and what a six-day stay looks like. If you are coming from Ireland, our Ireland page has every price in euro, the Dublin–Izmir flights, and how to claim 20% back from Revenue with a Form Med 2 — our dentist completes the form before you fly home.

Real results

More than 220 smile designs a year at the clinic and more than 2,200 implants placed by Tuğçe Arslan, every case photographed in the clinic before and after. Three of them are below — none of them the same, all of them designed for one face.

BeforeAfterBeforeAfterBeforeAfter

See all before-and-after photos →

See all before-and-after cases

Turkey Teeth Guide

Treatments: Dental implants · All-on-4 and All-on-6 · Veneers · Hollywood Smile · Crowns · Bone grafting · Sinus lift · Teeth whitening · Before and after · Cost calculator

Last updated: November 7, 2026