Dental prosthetics & dental tourism in Turkey

When you were six years old, after biting a hard juicy apple, remember the excitement of losing a tooth? That excitement is lost somewhere on the road to adulthood. To ensure our teeth looked good, some of us had no choice but to wear uncomfortable and not-so-attractive braces. Losing a tooth as an adult is hardly a cause for celebration as tooth, once you are adult, does not come cheap.

But there is a silver lining to the lost-tooth dust cloud: dental implants. Made from titanium posts that attach directly to the jawbone and anchor a permanent artificial tooth, implants are becoming increasingly popular restorations to replace one or a few teeth. According to International Dental Associations, the number of patients receiving dental implants has tripled, over the last ten years.

With the advancement of Dental Technology, implants, with their lifelike and practically "indistinguishable from natural teeth" look and feel are the next best thing to your natural teeth.They fit so securely that you won't even notice them when you chew and speak. And implant dentistry has advanced to the point that dentists can place implants with the same confidence and skills they've used in the past for crowns and bridges.

All remedies comes with a price tag of course. But in dental industry, the tag has more digits than any other as having good teeth is an issue of aesthetics as well as personal health. The Greens' Lee Rhiannon gave a speech in the NSW Parliament on the potential for toxic heavy metals being used in the making of imported dental prosthesis. Dental prosthetics made in Australia are currently regulated but imported prosthesis aren’t subject to the same standards.

As well as owning a popular authentic Turkish restaurant in Paddington, Mr. Icer runs an Dental Prosthetics Import company called Dentek which caters for Dental clinics. We met Mr. Icer at the courtyard of his rustic looking funky Turkish joint.

Mr. Icer, How do we benefit from imported implants?

The cost of dental implants are still rooftop figures. We need our teeth as much as we need our hands or feet so we can't really compromise. For replacing a single tooth, we would end up paying something in range of $1000s to $10,000. Even a single tooth restoration with a basic dental implant can easily cost something in the range from $1500 to $3000.

So your solution is all about cost cutting?
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Yes, there comes imported implants for your rescue. Technology and knowledge is universal yes, however wages or factors involved in setting the price tags are not. In EU countries, US, UK and Australia workers are paid Euros, Pounds or Dollars , therefore keeping the cost of production higher compared to the rest of the world that use a different currency and thus nest in a different economic pool.

But the could you compare us and other countries with regards to product quality or technology used?

An IT company in Taiwan or Russia could easily have the same level of technological capacity of a Western country like ours and in some cases even better but the cost of production would be cheaper which would be reflected on the product itself.

True. So I trust you have some sort of quality assurance then?

Yes, ISO-9001 it is called.

Is that all?

Of course not, our company occupies German and French production leaders and experienced department heads in order to hold up the quality.and for ten years we have been holding distribution rights of the industry leaders Japanese "Shofu Dental GmbH" the worldwide and also the German DFS (Dental Forschung Schleicher) for

Fair enough. Also, there has been many concerned voices raised about this subject, especially after Lee Rhiannon's speech in the NSW Parliament...

I know and tell you the truth, people have every right to be concerned about unregulated dental implants imported from overseas. However we are not talking about a out-of work dentists dodgy shed here, our production follows the guidelines of the MPG (Medicine Product Laws). All the materials we use, wich are mainly imposted from Europe, have the CE- Certificate. The bottom line is we are very strict and pedantic when it comes to our standards. Anyone with doubts can jump on a plane with me and trave to Turkey to see the facilities and talk to the dentists and the engineers

And which brings me to my next question, you also have dental tourism on your portfolio? How does this work?

Very simple. We take the patient, put him on a plane, send him to Izmir where our headquarters are. Izmir is the 3rd biggest city in Turkey, the biggest trade port, is on the Aegean sea, has great nightlife and very cheap cost of living, is only 30 minutes away from the magnificent Greek Islands, a few hours drive away from Gallipoli and the Troy, 30 minutes away from Ephesus where Virgin Mary's tomb is,and surrounded by famous tourists spots such as Kusadasi, Cesme, Lymnos, Rhodes, Lesbos etc. So while you are doing you sightseeing and enjoying the Mediterrenean lifestyle, you get your teeth fixed. Can anything be better than this?

Wow, that is some package. Thanks for your time Mr. Icer, is there anything else you would like to add for our readers?

Delaying a decision is always an alternative, although it's often not the best one and your health is more important than anything else so don't waste your money and time.

More information can be found at Dentek Website