Dental implants in Turkey: how the treatment actually works

What happens, step by step

1. 01Records and a written plan. You send X-rays or recent dental records; at the clinic a CT scan is taken. The plan — including whether a graft is needed — is put in writing before you commit to anything.
2. 02Preparing the site. If the tooth is still present and failing, it is extracted first. Any gum disease or infection is treated before an implant goes anywhere near the bone.
3. 03Placing the fixture. The implant — the titanium screw that will act as the tooth root — is placed into the bone under local anaesthetic. This is oral and maxillofacial surgery, not restorative work.
4. 04Healing, at home. You fly home while the bone integrates with the fixture. This is why the process is not finished on your first trip, whatever a same-visit-looking photo elsewhere might suggest.
5. 05The second trip: abutment and crown. Once healing is confirmed, the abutment and crown are fitted. You leave with an implant passport recording the exact system and lot placed.

Why it takes two trips, not one

A dental implant only works if the bone actually fuses to it — a process that takes months, not days. Fitting a crown before that healing is complete risks the fixture failing sooner than it should. That is the clinical reason behind the two-trip pattern, not a scheduling preference. If you are planning time off work, see how that maps onto how many days each trip needs.

When a bone graft changes the plan

If the CT scan shows there is not enough bone at the site, a bone graft or sinus lift is discussed. It is a separate procedure with its own healing time — sometimes several months — before the implant itself can go in. It is quoted separately from the implant fixture, and whether it is advisable at all is decided case by case, not assumed. In the upper jaw, if there is too little bone left even for a graft, zygomatic implants — anchored in the cheekbone rather than the jaw — are the last-resort alternative.

Astra Tech or Straumann

Both are established implant systems used in the US and Canada. Which one suits your case is decided from the CT scan, not a preference stated by email. The full comparison, and current pricing for each, is on our implant cost page.

When an implant is not the right treatment for you

We would rather tell you this before you book flights than after you land:

• Not enough bone, and grafting is not advisable in your case. Sometimes the honest answer after the CT scan is that grafting would extend the timeline without a good enough outcome to justify it.
• Untreated gum disease or an active infection. The implant waits until this is resolved — placing it into infected tissue is not sound treatment, regardless of your travel dates.
• Smoking. Smoking affects healing around an implant. It does not automatically rule you out, but it changes what we can responsibly promise.
• Untreated bruxism (clenching or grinding). Left untreated, it loads the restoration and shortens its life — this is worth managing before, not after, an implant is placed.
• Medical conditions or medications that affect bone healing. Assessed from your medical history, which is why we ask for it alongside your X-rays, not after you land.

In some of these cases a bridge or a denture is the better answer, and in some the right call is treating a health issue at home first. Missing most or all of the teeth in one jaw is a different question — see All-on-4. Read more about when travelling for treatment is, and is not, the right call.

What you leave with

An implant passport recording the system and lot placed, so any dentist in the US or Canada can identify it later, and a lifetime warranty on the fixture covering osseointegration failure and fracture. Pricing for the fixture, abutment and crown, with the scope on every line, is on our implant cost page.

What people ask about dental implants