Turkey Teeth Gone Wrong: Why It Happens and How to Make Sure It Doesn't

Almost every horror story shares the same ingredients: healthy teeth ground down to small pegs for crowns; no proper diagnostics or planning; a rushed timeline ('new smile in 2 days'); the cheapest possible quote; and no real aftercare once you're home. The damage (exposed nerves, gum recession, infections, crowns that fail in a few years) comes from over-preparation, not from geography.

The same procedure done conservatively and properly is a completely different outcome. Understand the core choice in veneers vs crowns in Turkey.

Crowns let a clinic change every tooth dramatically and fast, which suits a high-volume, low-price business model, but they require removing far more healthy tooth than minimal-prep veneers. Once a tooth is reduced to a peg, there's no going back; the patient is committed to restorations for life, and if the work is poor, fixing it is expensive and invasive.

That irreversibility is exactly why the right clinic recommends the least destructive option that achieves your goal.

In August 2026, The Times reported the account of Martyn Kurrant, 46. The price gap is what decided it for him: £6,400 for treatment in Turkey against the £40,000 he had been quoted by a private dentist in the UK: six times cheaper. Years of gum disease had left 15 of his teeth severely damaged or missing, and he was self-conscious about them. "I just wanted to be able to smile and chew again," he told the paper.

His treatment was to include 28 new crowns over his existing teeth, for the bright, uniform look these packages are sold on. (Source: The Times, via its verified @thetimes Instagram account, 28 August 2026.)

The first stage went the way patients hope it will. Two teeth were extracted and a bone graft with sinus lifting was carried out to support nine implants due to be placed six months later; he wore a temporary denture in the meantime. In May 2024, after that stage, Kurrant messaged the clinic on WhatsApp: "You guys have literally changed my life."

Three months after that first stage, and three months before the implants and crowns were due, he became unwell at his home in Essex, had multiple seizures and was taken to hospital. A photograph from his hospital bed shows a head dressing marked "NO BONE FLAP". He has had five brain surgeries since, including a titanium skull plate fitted after an infection in his sinus spread to his brain.

He spent three months in a wheelchair, then relearned how to walk and talk. "I'm sleeping a lot, my anxiety is huge, and I've lost a lot of confidence," he says.

How that account should be read matters as much as the account itself. The Times attributes the link between the dental treatment and what followed to Kurrant: its own wording is "claims Martyn Kurrant". That is a patient's account, not a clinical or legal finding, and we are not presenting it as one. Here is the line between what has been reported and what has not been established:

What the case is genuinely useful for is the question it puts in front of anyone weighing a quote: what does a six-fold price difference actually tell you? On its own, less than people assume.

A large part of the gap between Turkish and UK dentistry is structural (labour, lab and property costs), which is why an honest quote in Istanbul is lower without the materials being worse; we break that down in Turkey teeth cost. But a low number can also mean the plan is thinner than the case needs. The figure is information, not a verdict, and it is worth asking what sits behind it.

Kurrant's plan was not a cosmetic veneer job. Extractions, a bone graft and a sinus lift are oral surgery carried out millimetres from the maxillary sinus, and surgery of that kind carries an infection risk wherever in the world it is performed, including in the US or the UK if it lands in careless hands.

A case this severe is extreme, but the underlying risk isn't unique to Turkey: it comes from who performs the surgery, not which country they practise in. Turkish clinics carry out sinus lifts and bone grafts with genuinely advanced surgical technique, and results are routinely good, but a procedure at this level shouldn't be delegated casually.

It needs to be carried out by a qualified oral or maxillofacial surgeon, not simply whichever dentist is fitting your crowns. That is the part patients tend to under-read when treatment is presented as a smile package with a hotel attached.

Before agreeing to any surgical stage, ask in writing what the specific risks are, what happens if an infection or complication develops after you fly home, who you contact out of hours, and who pays for revision work, and whether the answer is a written policy or a verbal reassurance.

Two further checks are cheap and quick. Accreditation is one: it does not guarantee an outcome, but it means an outside body has audited infection control, sterilisation and patient-safety protocols on site. Some clinics carry TEMOS International accreditation; ask your coordinator in writing which accreditations your specific clinic currently holds.

The second is a second opinion on the treatment plan itself, ideally from a dentist in your own country who has no stake in the booking. If two independent clinicians describe the same case in very different terms, that difference is worth resolving before a tooth is touched.

This section summarises one reported case. It is not a statement about any clinic's standards, about dentistry in Turkey generally, or about the treatments involved, and nothing here is medical advice; discuss your own case with a qualified clinician.

Pick the clinic, not the price. Demand a real consultation with imaging; ask whether you're getting veneers or crowns and how much tooth will be removed; refuse rushed timelines; verify credentials and complication history; and confirm aftercare you can reach. This is precisely the gap NexWell exists to close.

We vet and match clinics on these standards and steer you to conservative care. Start with how to choose a clinic in Turkey, our plain-English explainer on what Turkey teeth actually are, or a no-pressure assessment.

The result of any of these treatments depends far more on the clinic and clinician than on the destination. NexWell vets and assigns the clinic and clinician for your case, so you don't gamble on a name found online. See our verified specialists in Istanbul and Antalya, or get a no-obligation assessment.