Qualifications
Are Turkish dentists qualified — and what can you actually verify from home?
Are Turkish dentists qualified to treat US and Canadian patients?
There is no single "ADA-equivalent" credential: in the United States dentists are licensed by individual state dental boards, not by the ADA, and no foreign licence converts automatically. What you can verify from home is the clinic. Ours lists 14 dentists across four disciplines, and all three of our clinics appear on the Turkish Ministry of Health's published list of health tourism authorised facilities.
The trophies in the photo are two named awards: the Eurostar & IAE British Excellence Awards (International Award of Excellence in Healthcare, Business, Entrepreneurship and Global Leadership) and the IAE & British Healthcare Awards (International Award of Excellence in Medical & Healthcare Professions). Both are paid-entry commercial awards, not government or medical-board credentials — we are naming them plainly rather than leaving them unlabelled in a photo.
"Are Turkish dentists qualified" is really two questions wearing one coat. The first is about a country, and it is not answerable — the dentists of any country do not share one standard of care, and American ones do not either. The second question is about a clinic and a named person, and that one you can actually check before you spend a dollar.
This page answers the second question about us, including the part where the answer is no.
Is your clinic JCI-accredited?
No — and here is the honest answer.
JCI (Joint Commission International) is a voluntary, paid accreditation from a US-based body that audits how an organisation runs its processes. It is a real thing, its ambulatory care programme does cover dental facilities, and some larger Turkish groups hold it. We do not, and we are not going to imply otherwise with softer wording.
What we hold is a different category, and it is not optional: an International Health Tourism authorisation from the Turkish Ministry of Health. Rather than ask you to take a certificate number on trust, we point to the source: all three of our clinics appear on the Ministry's own published list of authorised facilities, which you can open and search yourself. It is a legal requirement to treat foreign patients at all. It obliges the clinic to run an international patient unit with foreign-language-speaking staff, it is subject to a performance review by USHAŞ at least once a year, and it can be suspended or revoked if the clinic falls short.
Neither document promises you a good tooth. That is why we also publish our warranty in full — the terms, the duration, and what voids it. The thing you can actually hold us to is what happens if your treatment fails, not which logo sits in our footer.
JCI accreditation and a Ministry of Health authorisation are not the same thing
| JCI accreditation | Turkish MoH International Health Tourism authorisation | |
|---|---|---|
| Who issues it | Joint Commission International, a US-based private non-profit | Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Health, General Directorate of Health Services |
| Voluntary or mandatory | Voluntary, and paid for by the clinic | Mandatory — without it, treating international patients is not permitted |
| What it examines | How the organisation runs its processes: patient rights, assessment, medication and infection control, governance, staff competence, facility safety | Eligibility to operate in health tourism: an international patient unit, foreign-language-speaking staff, a quality score threshold, complication insurance |
| How often it is reviewed | On-site survey on the accreditation cycle | Performance review by USHAŞ at least once a year |
| Can it be lost | Yes, by not being renewed | Yes — it can be suspended or revoked |
| Does it guarantee your result | No | No |
| Do we hold it | No | Yes — all three clinics on the Ministry's public list |
The last two rows are the ones that matter. A clinic with a rack of certificates and a clinic with none can both hand you a crown that fails in year three. The difference you can enforce is a written warranty, not a badge.
The framework also requires complication insurance for patients treated under it. Ask any clinic — us included — to show you the policy rather than the claim.
At The Clinic
The facility behind the paperwork
A certificate is a document; the clinic behind it is a place you can check against the Ministry's own published list, not just a number to take on trust.
Is a Turkish dental degree recognised in the United States or Canada?
Not automatically, and this cuts both ways, so it is worth being precise.
In the United States, the ADA is a professional membership association; it does not issue licences. Licences are granted by state dental boards, and a dentist trained outside an accredited North American programme generally has to complete additional study at an accredited US school before becoming eligible. Canada works through its own provincial regulators and equivalency route.
What that means practically: a dentist who is fully licensed and practising in Türkiye is not thereby licensed in Ohio or Ontario, and would not claim to be. It also means "is this dentist ADA-approved" has no yes-or-no answer — the question does not map onto how either system works. The checkable questions are different ones, and they are below.
Meet The Team
What you can check about our team
Our clinics list 14 dentists working across four disciplines.
The clinical director of the Istanbul clinic is Dr. Nurettin Tekeşin, DDS (Ankara University), who is the responsible manager on record for the clinic.
| Discipline | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Prosthodontics | Crowns, veneers, bridges, implant-supported prosthetics — the restorative side of an implant case |
| Oral and maxillofacial surgery | Extractions, implant placement, bone grafting and sinus procedures |
| Restorative dentistry | Fillings, direct restorations, rebuilding damaged teeth |
| Endodontics | Root canal treatment and retreatment |
If you are reading this from the US or Canada, that structure will be familiar: at home, your root canal is done by an endodontist and your crown is designed by a prosthodontist. Discipline-split teams are the normal way complex cases are handled, and it is the model we work in — not one dentist doing everything to keep a package price down.
What we are not showing you, and why
Three honest gaps, because a page that only lists strengths is not a page you should believe:
- We do not hold JCI accreditation. Stated above, stated plainly.
- We are not publishing a graduation year for every dentist on the team. Some of those details are not verified to our own satisfaction, and we would rather leave a field empty than fill it with something we cannot stand behind if you ask.
- We are not publishing patient-volume claims we cannot count. Across our three clinics the group has delivered 55,000+ treatments over 20+ years — a group figure, not an Istanbul figure, and we say so rather than letting the bigger number float free.
If a clinic's credentials page has no gaps at all, it is worth asking what was left out.
Before You Book
The questions actually worth asking
Ask these of us and of every clinic on your shortlist:
- 01Which dentist is treating me, in which discipline, and will that change after I land?
- 02Who is the clinic's responsible manager on record?
- 03What licence does the clinic hold to treat international patients, and what is its number?
- 04Is there complication insurance, and can I see it?
- 05What is the written warranty, and what voids it?
- 06What documentation do I leave with?
Questions 5 and 6 are answered on our warranty page and our aftercare page. Our safety page covers when you should not travel at all. Want to see the team behind these answers? Meet our dentists.
What people ask about Turkish dental qualifications
Is Sevil Smile Clinic JCI-accredited?
No. JCI is a voluntary, paid accreditation from a US-based body that audits an organisation's processes; we do not hold it. We hold a mandatory International Health Tourism authorisation from the Turkish Ministry of Health — all three of our clinics appear on the Ministry's own published list of authorised facilities, which you can check yourself — reviewed at least annually and it can be suspended or revoked. Neither guarantees a treatment result, which is why we publish our warranty in full.
Are Turkish dentists ADA-approved?
The question has no yes-or-no answer, because the ADA is a professional association rather than a licensing body — US dentists are licensed by state dental boards. A Turkish licence does not convert into a US or Canadian one automatically, and no honest clinic will tell you it does.
What is a Health Tourism Authorisation Certificate?
It is the authorisation a Turkish health facility must hold to treat patients who travel from abroad for planned treatment, issued by the Ministry of Health. It requires an international patient unit, foreign-language-speaking staff and complication insurance, and it is subject to an annual performance review. All three of our clinics appear on the Ministry's published list of authorised facilities — see our health tourism certificate page.
How many dentists work at the clinic, and in which specialities?
Fourteen dentists across four disciplines — prosthodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery, restorative dentistry and endodontics. The clinical director of the Istanbul clinic is Dr. Nurettin Tekeşin, DDS (Ankara University).
Will I know which dentist is treating me before I book?
Ask for it in writing with your treatment plan, along with your check-up schedule and your warranty terms. If a clinic will not name the treating dentist before you buy a flight, that is information in itself.
Ask who is actually treating you
Send your case and we will name the treating dentist and their discipline in writing.