I'm not going to tell you not to go. Adults are entitled to choose where they have treatment, and some clinics abroad do excellent work. What I can do is explain what I and colleagues across the UK see when it goes wrong, and the handful of questions that separate a sensible trip from an expensive one.
What UK dentists report
In 2022 the British Dental Association surveyed 1,000 UK dentists. 94% had examined patients who had gone abroad for treatment, and 86% of those had treated patients with problems afterwards: failing work, pain, or treatment that was poorly carried out. Crowns were the treatment most likely to need follow-up, closely followed by implants.
The repair bill is the part people rarely budget for. Of the dentists who had seen problems, about two thirds estimated the remedial work cost at least £500, and half put it above £1,000. Over 40% said the repairs had ended up being done on the NHS.
'Veneers' that are actually crowns
This is the single most important thing to understand. A traditional porcelain veneer is a thin facing on the front of a tooth. A crown covers the whole tooth, and to make room for it the tooth is filed down all the way round.
The difference in what's removed is large. A 2002 study by Edelhoff and Sorensen in the Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry weighed front teeth before and after preparation: veneers removed roughly 3 to 30% of the visible tooth, while full crowns removed around 63 to 72%. Many short-trip packages advertised as veneers involve preparing teeth for full-coverage crowns, because it's faster and more forgiving to do in a few days. Once a healthy tooth has been prepared that far, it can't be undone. It will need a crown for life, and some heavily prepared teeth later need root canal treatment.
If you want to change the look of your front teeth, the less invasive routes are worth knowing about first: straightening, whitening, and composite bonding, which can often achieve a lot without removing tooth at all.
Questions to ask before you book
- Who exactly will treat me, and are they registered? Ask for their full name and check they're registered with the dental regulator in that country. The GDC's guidance for patients going abroad suggests checking whether a regulator exists there and whether registration is compulsory.
- Am I having veneers or crowns? Ask how much tooth will be removed, in writing, and whether any healthy teeth will be prepared.
- How many days, and how many visits? Crowns and veneers usually need time for the gums to settle, for a temporary trial, and for the lab. A very short schedule means compromises somewhere.
- What material, which lab, and can I have the details? If something chips at home, a UK dentist needs to know what it's made of.
- Will I get copies of my X-rays, scans and notes? Ask before you pay, not after you've flown home.
- What happens if something goes wrong in six months? Many guarantees require you to travel back at your own cost. Find out who pays for the flights.
- Am I insured? The GHIC covers medically necessary state healthcare, not planned private treatment, and standard travel insurance generally excludes elective procedures.
If you're going anyway
Have a check-up at home first so any decay or gum disease is treated before cosmetic work goes on top of it. Bring a list of questions and get the answers in writing. Allow longer than the package suggests. And when you get back, book an examination so there's a baseline on record; if a problem appears later, it's much easier to sort out.
If something has already gone wrong, it's usually fixable, but the earlier it's looked at the more options there are. That's restorative dentistry, and it's a large part of what I do.
Resources
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