How to Verify a Dental Clinic and Dentist in Turkey Before You Book

How do you verify a dental clinic and dentist in Turkey? Check the clinic and the person separately. Find the clinic on the Ministry of Health’s list of facilities authorized for health tourism and on HealthTürkiye, at the address on your quote. Then find the dentist by full legal name in the Turkish Dental Association’s public search, and ask for their diploma, specialty certificate and a written plan that names them.

Most verification guides tell you to “check the license” and stop there. This one shows you where to look, what to type and what you should see, using our own clinic as the worked example. Every check below can be done from the US in an evening, with no Turkish ID and no login.

Why bother? The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that dental care is the most common form of medical tourism among US residents, and that “dentists in destination countries might not be subject to the same licensure oversight as their U.S. counterparts” (CDC Yellow Book). Turkey does publish official registers. You just need to know where they are.

The 10-Point Checklist at a Glance

The clinic

1. Ministry of Health list: the clinic is on the official list of facilities authorized for health tourism, at the address on your quote.
2. HealthTürkiye profile: the clinic has a profile on the government’s health-tourism portal.
3. Agency authorization: if an agency sold you the package, the agency is authorized too.
4. Matching legal name: the official name on the list matches your quote and invoice.

The dentist

5. A named dentist: you have the full legal name of the person who will treat you, in writing.
6. Turkish Dental Association record: the dentist appears in the TDB’s public dentist search.
7. Diploma and specialty: the dentist can show a diploma and, if claimed, a specialty or postgraduate certificate.
8. Relevant experience: the dentist regularly treats cases like yours and will talk to you directly.

The treatment

9. A written plan: CBCT-based plan, implant brand, itemized price and warranty, all on paper.
10. Aftercare in the US: a named contact, your records in English and a plan for complications.

1. Is the Clinic on the Ministry of Health’s Authorized List?

Every facility in Turkey that treats international patients must hold an International Health Tourism Authorization Certificate, and the Ministry of Health publishes the list of facilities that hold one. The rules come from the regulation on international health tourism published in the Official Gazette on 26 April 2025 (issue 32882).

The Ministry’s authorized facilities page is in Turkish, so here is what to do:

1. Open the page. You will see four links: hospitals (hastaneler), medical centers (tıp merkezleri), private practices (muayenehaneler) and other health facilities (diğer sağlık tesisleri).
2. Most dental clinics are polyclinics, which appear in the “other health facilities” list. It is a PDF with more than 1,500 entries, sorted alphabetically by province.
3. Press Ctrl+F (Cmd+F on a Mac) and search for the clinic’s brand word, for example “Soho.”
4. Check three columns: the official name, the address and the phone number. The address must match the one on your quote.

The authorization belongs to one facility at one address. It cannot be transferred, so a group with several branches needs a separate entry for each branch.

2. Does the Clinic Have a HealthTürkiye Profile?

HealthTürkiye is the Turkish government’s official health-tourism portal, and authorized providers have a profile on it. The regulation requires clinics and agencies serving foreign patients to work through it. Start from the certified health service providers page and look for the clinic’s official name.

A profile does not show the street address, so use it together with check 1, not instead of it. If you cannot find a clinic, HealthTürkiye runs a 24/7 support line: +90 850 288 38 38.

3. If an Agency Sold You the Package, Is the Agency Authorized Too?

Agencies that sell treatment packages to foreign patients need their own authorization, separate from the clinic’s. If you are paying a travel or “dental tourism” company rather than the clinic itself, ask for the agency’s authorization and check it on the same Ministry website, which publishes a separate list of authorized intermediaries.

Then ask two more questions: which clinic will actually treat you, and who you will pay. You should be able to run checks 1 and 2 on that clinic as well.

4. Does the Clinic’s Legal Name Match Your Quote and Invoice?

A clinic’s brand name and its legal name are often different, and the legal name is the one that counts. Turkish dental clinics are usually registered as an “Özel … Ağız ve Diş Sağlığı Polikliniği” (private oral and dental health polyclinic). Your quote, your contract and your invoice should carry the same legal name and address that you found in check 1.

5. Who Exactly Will Treat You? Get the Full Legal Name in Writing

You cannot verify a dentist you cannot name, so the first step is the full legal name of the person who will place your implants. Ask for it in writing, along with the name of the dentist who will make your final teeth, if that is a different person. Both names should appear in your treatment plan.

Use the name exactly as written in Turkish, including letters such as ç, ğ, ı, ö, ş and ü. You will need it for check 6.

6. Is the Dentist in the Turkish Dental Association’s Public Search?

The Turkish Dental Association (Türk Dişhekimleri Birliği, TDB) is the national professional body for dentists, and it runs a free public search of registered dentists. According to the TDB, its records depend on the dentist being registered in the Ministry of Health’s Doctor Information Bank, the official register of diplomas.

How to use it:

1. Open the TDB “Dişhekimi Bul” (Find a Dentist) page.
2. Type the first name in Ad and the surname in Soyad. You can leave the province (İl) as “all provinces.”
3. Click Ara (Search). Each result shows the dentist’s name and the district and city of their registration.
4. Check that the district and city match where the clinic is. If they do not, ask why. Records are sometimes out of date, but you should get a clear answer.

7. Can the Dentist Show a Diploma and Specialty Certificate?

Ask for a copy of the dentist’s diploma and of any specialty or postgraduate certificate they mention, and read what it actually says. Every dentist in Turkey has a unique diploma registration number (diploma tescil numarası) issued by the Ministry of Health. The Ministry’s Doctor Information Bank is accessed by the dentist through Turkey’s e-government system, so there is no public lookup for patients. Asking for the number and the documents is the practical route.

Turkish dental titles tell you a lot once you know how to read them:

Implant surgery is learned through different routes: a specialty such as periodontology or oral surgery, a doctorate, or a postgraduate program in implantology. Weekend course certificates are useful extras, but they are not the same thing. Ask which route your dentist took.

8. How Much Experience Does the Dentist Have With Cases Like Yours?

A registered, qualified dentist still needs regular experience with your type of treatment, and the best way to judge it is to talk to them directly. Ask for a video consultation with the dentist who will treat you, not only with a coordinator. Then ask questions that are hard to answer with marketing:

• How many full-arch (All-on-4 or All-on-6) cases do you treat in a year?
• Can you show me dated before-and-after photos of a case like mine, with your name on it?
• Based on my X-ray, what could change the plan once you see my CBCT scan?
• Will you see me at both visits?

9. Is Your Treatment Plan Written Down, With Brand, Price and Warranty?

Before you pay a deposit, everything that matters should be on paper: who treats you, what is placed, what it costs and what is covered if it fails. A complete written plan includes:

• The treating dentist’s name (check 5).
• A note that the plan will be confirmed on a 3D CBCT scan, and which extras could be added after it, with prices.
• The implant brand and system. You can search the brand in the FDA 510(k) database to see whether it is cleared in the US.
• An itemized price in your currency, with exclusions listed.
• The warranty terms: what is covered, for how long and under what conditions.
• A promise of an implant card or “implant passport” with the brand, system and lot number of each implant, so any dentist can service it later.

For the full list of what separates a good implant clinic from a risky one, see our guide to the best dental implant clinics in Turkey.

10. What Happens After You Fly Home to the US?

Most of your healing happens at home, so you need a named contact at the clinic and your records in English before you leave. The CDC advises medical travelers to “request copies of their overseas medical records in English” (CDC Yellow Book). For implants, that means your CBCT scan, treatment notes and implant card.

Ask before you book:

• Who do I contact after I fly home, and how fast do they reply across time zones?
• Will you send my records to my US dentist?
• What happens if a temporary tooth breaks or an implant feels loose before my second visit?
• Which costs does the warranty cover if I need to come back?

How Should You Score a Clinic?

Give the clinic one point for each check it passes. Ten out of ten is what a well-run clinic should manage without effort. Some checks matter more than others, though. If the answer is “no” to any of these four, do not book:

For the other six, a “no” is a question to resolve in writing before you pay, not necessarily a reason to walk away.

What Are the Warning Signs of a Bad Dental Implant Clinic Abroad?

The warning signs are usually visible before you travel, in how the clinic answers your questions. Be careful if you see any of these:

Reviews and logos are useful supporting evidence, but they do not replace the official checks above. When you read reviews, look at how they are spread over time and whether patients with cases like yours describe the same dentist by name. Video reviews from patients in your country are harder to fake than star ratings.

International accreditation such as Joint Commission International (JCI) reviews a facility’s safety systems, but the CDC reminds travelers that “accreditation does not guarantee a good outcome.” In Turkey, the Ministry authorization and the dentist’s registration are the legal baseline. See our patient reviews for how US patients describe their treatment with us.

FAQ

Sources

1. Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Health, Yetkili Sağlık Tesisleri (authorized facilities lists, updated October 2026). saglik.gov.tr
2. Republic of Türkiye, Regulation on International Health Tourism and Tourist Health, Official Gazette, 26 April 2025, issue 32882. resmigazete.gov.tr
3. HealthTürkiye, Certified Health Service Providers. healthturkiye.gov.tr
4. Türk Dişhekimleri Birliği (Turkish Dental Association), Dişhekimi Bul. tdb.org.tr
5. Türk Dişhekimleri Birliği, notice on registration in the Ministry of Health Doctor Information Bank. tdb.org.tr
6. Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Health, Doctor Information Bank (Doktor Bilgi Bankası). saglik.gov.tr
7. CDC Yellow Book, “Medical Tourism” (updated 23 April 2025). cdc.gov
8. US Food and Drug Administration, 510(k) Premarket Notification database. fda.gov