The patient journey

A treatment coordinator reads your enquiry and replies, usually within one working day.

They will often ask a few follow-up questions before anything else. Age, general health, medications, whether you have had the procedure before, what you have already been told elsewhere — these change the answer, and guessing at them produces a plan that falls apart later.

Your coordinator speaks your language and stays with you for the whole process. You are not handed between departments.

Your enquiry and photographs are reviewed by a clinician in the relevant department.

What comes back is a provisional view: what appears to be involved, which approaches are realistic, roughly how long it would take, and how many visits it needs.

**Provisional is the important word.** A photograph cannot show bone level, gum health beneath the surface, the density of a donor area, or your general health. The assessment can be confirmed or changed by an in-person examination, and we would rather tell you that now than surprise you with it in Istanbul.

If treatment looks appropriate, you receive a plan in writing: what is proposed, how many appointments, how long you would need to stay, and what it costs.

The price is for your plan, not a headline figure. This is why no prices are published on this website — the cost of dental treatment depends on how many teeth and what condition they are in, and a hair transplant depends on your donor area, so any published number would either not apply to you or be a low figure designed to get you here before the real one appears.

Read it. Take it to your own dentist or doctor if you want a second opinion — we would rather you did.

There is no deadline, no expiring discount, and nobody will chase you.

Ask everything you want to ask, including the uncomfortable questions: who is performing the procedure, what their qualifications are, what happens if the result is not what was discussed, and what the aftercare is if something goes wrong once you are home. A clinic that answers those readily is telling you something; a clinic that deflects them is telling you something too.

You can stop at any point, without explanation and without cost.

Once you decide, your coordinator confirms the schedule and the practical arrangements in writing before you book anything: which days you are in the clinic, how long the stay needs to be, and what is arranged for you.

Book flights only once the treatment dates are confirmed — not before. Dates occasionally move for clinical reasons, and a non-refundable flight is a bad thing to have bought early.

There is more detail on the practical side of the trip on our Istanbul page.

You are met on arrival and taken to your accommodation.

The first clinical appointment is an examination — in person, with imaging where it is needed. This is where the provisional assessment becomes an actual plan.

If what is found differs from what the photographs suggested, you are told before anything begins, along with what it changes in the plan and in the cost. You can decline at that point. Nobody is treated on the basis of a plan they have not agreed to after being examined.

What this involves depends entirely on the procedure — a single dental visit, a full surgical day with a hospital stay, or a course of appointments across a week.

Your coordinator is reachable throughout, including outside appointment hours. If you are anxious, say so: it is an ordinary thing to feel when you are having a procedure in a country you do not live in, and it is easier to help with when it has been said out loud.

You are reviewed before departure, and the clinical team confirms you are fit to fly. That confirmation comes from them, not from your return booking.

This matters most after surgery: flying too soon raises the risk of blood clots and of swelling that has nowhere to go. If a surgeon says wait, that is not a scheduling inconvenience, it is the medical advice.

You leave with written aftercare instructions in your own language, any prescriptions you need, and a record of exactly what was done — including the specific materials or implants used, which your own dentist or doctor may need years from now.

Aftercare does not end at the airport, and this is where treatment abroad most often fails people.

Your coordinator stays in contact through recovery. You can send photographs if you are unsure whether something is healing normally — and you should, because the alternative is worrying about it alone or asking the internet.

If something needs attention, we would far rather hear about it early than find out months later. Tell us as soon as you are concerned, not once you are certain.