Jane Warren during her visit to the Turkish dental complex Dentakay (Image: Jane Warren)
When David Brown, 61, was accidentally hit in the mouth with a spanner while tightening a compression joint in his central heating system last year, his bottom front tooth broke off at the gum line. He also had 13 rotten molars that bothered him for years.
“The food was awful, I was constantly trying to get food out of my teeth as I had so many fillings missing,” she says. “Putting myself in the mouth was the motivation I needed to get my teeth fixed.”
Unable to find an NHS dentist taking new patients, the Mancunian builder decided his best option for affordable private treatment was in Turkey “Manchester is terrible for dentists now,” says David. “They have wiped my entire family off the books since they only did emergency work during Covid-19.”
A private dentist in Manchester quoted £33,000 to fix his teeth – but in Turkey, the same work cost £13,000, including four-hour flights and full-board accommodation.
“I didn’t want an ultraviolet Rylan Clark smile,” says David. “I just wanted to fix the broken tooth and look like I had normal teeth, which I do now.”
Over the course of a week, he had 13 implants, replacing his decayed and broken teeth, as well as six crowns – a system that covers an existing tooth edge with a shiny new, ivory-coloured false tooth.
“Now I can eat whatever I want without things getting stuck in them,” she says.
During the pandemic, most British dentists were forced to close their doors. Some have never had them opened again, and this has proven disastrous for the nation’s dental health.
Almost 70,000 people were admitted to A&E in 2022-23 with tooth decay.
Government figures from the same period showed a 17 per cent rise in the number of children having rotten teeth removed in hospital – tooth extractions are now the leading cause of hospital admissions for children aged six to 10 in England.
Last year, NHS England reported that 25 per cent of UK residents who needed an NHS dental appointment failed to make it. And it’s estimated that up to 60 percent of the population hasn’t had a checkup in the past two years. No wonder then Health Minister Victoria Atkins described the outcome of the pandemic as “catastrophic”.
Mani Singh, 50, from Wolverhampton, who had to go abroad for treatment, says: “I don’t think there is a problem with the NHS. I know there is a problem.”
He had nine teeth exported to Turkey in preparation for Nobel Bio Care implants which cost £600 each – less than half the price in the UK. “My teeth were loose and unsalvageable, and some had fallen out because I wasn’t very careful about eating sweets,” she explains. “But no NHS dentist could help me.”
In February this year, ministers promised to control the escalating situation, with Rishi Sunak unveiling a successful plan to free up millions of NHS appointments.
However, the reality is that recovery in the sector is likely to take years.
An extensive investigation by the BBC earlier this year found that 90 per cent of NHS dental practices were not accepting new patients. Meanwhile, frustrated patients, often in severe pain, resort to extreme, sometimes horrific measures to find relief.
Stefan Roger Hobmann, 34, sports his new sparkling smile after treatment (Image: Dentakay)
Istanbul dentist Dr Gulay Akay, 37, who is the founder of the Turkish dental group Dentakay, says: “We have had patients who have pulled their teeth with strings and pliers or used glue or putty in their mouths to hold the teeth in place their. But teeth aren’t something you can DIY. Some patients use so much alcohol to numb the pain that they become alcoholics.’
Others can only eat soft food. Dr. Akay tells of a British patient who devised a makeshift brace to stop her teeth from moving after an accident. “The teeth shouldn’t move,” he says. Another patient pulled his own tooth in the dentist’s chair after Dr. Akay turned away for a moment after applying local anesthetic.
“They said they couldn’t wait another moment,” he recalls. “Because of the problems with the NHS these patients are forced to live with serious problems. Functionally and psychologically they need help; when patients lose many teeth that are not replaced, they end up with gastric problems. and obesity as they cannot chew their food”.
Jaw chewing, when teeth are missing, also wears down the bones.
Some of the patients Dr Akay sees are so desperate to have these problems solved that they are prepared to fly 2,000 miles to find available appointments and affordable prices.
Before the pandemic, Dentakay was seeing up to 20 British patients a week. Now it’s around 75 – or 500 a month. Many cannot find an NHS surgery and arrive with two main problems – advanced gingivitis and teeth misalignment problems caused by missing teeth when they are young and untreated.
“That’s one of the saddest things because the effect on your self-confidence affects all areas of life,” says Dr. Akay.
Dentakay founder Dr Gulay Akay has seen patients who have had their teeth pulled out with shoelaces (Image: Dentakay)
This was the case for Stefan Hobman, 34, from Barnsley who went to Turkey for two root canals, one extraction, four implants and 22 crowns. “I have crooked teeth and a bad smile and I’ve spent my life hiding it,” she says.
“I hated looking at my mouth and couldn’t bear to see pictures of myself. They charged me £25,000 to go private in the UK, but in Turkey it costs less than £8,000. My confidence to smile again changed my life. “
Half of Dentakay’s patients are now from the UK and demand is so great that the company has opened two more state-of-the-art clinics in Istanbul, catering to hordes of desperate Brits prepared to spend four hours on a plane to see an affordable dentist .
It has just opened its fourth Turkish clinic in Antalya.
“We noticed the reactions British patients had to our approach and decided to expand post-Covid,” says Dr Akay, who was recently invited to Brussels to discuss patient safety in medical tourism, a market estimated to it amounts to £60 billion a year. in global level.
In recent years, the rise of the so-called “Turkey teeth” phenomenon — where consumers seeking a “Hollywood” smile opt to have healthy teeth ground into pegs that can accept bright white crowns — has sparked controversy.
Dentakay has been independently verified to be at par with the standards required by the Care Quality Commission and attracts patients who cannot find an NHS dentist or afford private treatment in Britain, rather than those seeking unnecessary cosmetic procedures.
Many opt for Dentakay’s pre-trip Q&A session with a clinician in London to discuss their treatment options – which provides added reassurance given the distances involved.
Martin Barrett, 64, saved £10,000 by traveling to Turkey for his dental treatment (Image: Dentakay)
Martin Barrett, 64, an inventor living in North Wales who had his front teeth knocked out aged 20, says: “Seeing a dentist a long way away you don’t know what problems will arise, so it was reassuring to speak to someone in UK before flying here.
“I had crowns, but after 40 years they had worn down and my gums had receded, causing discomfort at the base of the crowns. I also had to brush my teeth every time I ate. My teeth were chronically irritated.”
Although she managed to get an appointment with the NHS, it was canceled three times.
“On the fourth cancellation I was told I would have to go private at a cost of £17,000,” he says.
He spent a week in Turkey for treatment which cost £7,500 including travel and accommodation.
As for David Brown, he’s happy to have found a dentist he trusts – albeit in Turkey.
“I’m not going to look into the NHS anymore,” he says. “I can get to Turkey on a cheap flight for £100 return, walk into the clinic and sort it out there and then.
“I go back to Turkey every year for a check-up. My wife wants to come with me next time – after all, it’s a holiday and a medical appointment is over.”
Jane Warren relaxes at Dentakay’s high-end clinic (Image: Jane Warren)
“When it comes to bridging the gap, I can’t fault my experience”
The marble patio with its fruit mocktail bar, staircase and lively staff looks like a five-star hotel lobby, writes Jane Warren. I’m one of the first patients to try Dentakay’s high-end clinic that recently opened in Antalya on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, where 10 treatment rooms with curved glass walls turn from transparent to opaque at the push of a button.
After a 4D CT scan of my head, I lie in the massage chair while my teeth are meticulously polished. But the scan revealed a problem. When a molar cracked two years ago due to the presence of a large, old amalgam filling, I had it removed by my NHS dentist, who went private shortly afterwards. I was left without a dentist and a gap in my mouth. My new Turkish dentist explains that if I don’t fill the gap – with a bridge or an implant – my teeth will start to move and gaps will appear.
The next thing I know, I’m being ushered into one of two underground operating suites where a wall of plants behind the glass plate creates a sense of psychological calm. Twenty minutes later, the first stage of an implant was placed and I was invited to use the noise-cancelling meditation room to relax after my treatment. Stocked with painkillers and antibiotics, it’s the most relaxing experience and I’ll be back in August for the second stage when the crown is placed on the implanted peg of my new Turkish tooth.
Jane Warren was his guest Dentakay.com
