Turkey Teeth: Why Are People Flying Thousands Of Miles For A Hollywood Smile?

Twenty new teeth in Turkey cost about £3,000, or roughly $4,000. That price covers six nights at a hotel, plus a driver waiting at arrivals with your name on a card, and the whole job wraps up in a matter of days. The identical work at a private practice somewhere in England runs somewhere between £12,000 and £18,000, or around $16,000 to $24,000, spread across a month or two of appointments.

Put like that, a flight to Antalya or Istanbul starts to look like the obvious choice. You get a week of sunshine and come home with the kind of smile you’d see in a toothpaste ad. Which is why roughly 500,000 people traveled to Turkey for dental work in 2024, according to the Council of European Dentists.

But as tempting as the offer sounds, it isn’t without risks. An alarming number of UK dentists have seen patients come back from abroad with serious complications. Fixing these problems can cost more than the original trip. So, is jetting off for a brand-new set of pearly whites really worth the gamble?