When you hear the concept of dental health, Turkey is one of the leading countries in terms of service quality and patient satisfaction in the world. Turkey is on the forefront with quality service, low cost and high quality of workmanship, hosts patients from all over the world, especially from Europe, who come to get dental health services.
Those who wish to make use of dental health services in Turkey has three options :
- General Health Insurance
- Private Insurance
- Private Clinic
Oral and Dental Health Clinics
The oral and dental health services are provided in “Oral and Dental Health” clinics in Turkey which is the nationwide network of state hospitals. You can make an appointment from the clinics by phone, internet or personal application method.
Turkish and foreign nationals with general health insurance can benefit from oral and dental health services free of charge in state and university hospitals. In addition to the recent legal arrangements, people covered by universal health insurance may also benefit from services provided by private hospitals under certain conditions. Private insurance holders can also benefit from oral and dental care services in state hospitals and private hospitals where their insurance coverage is negotiated. However, when private health insurance covers dental health services at all times, it should be taken into consideration when taking out private insurance.
Private Clinics
As the third option, there are dentists who are operating in their own inspection clinic. These dentists work independently and have their own tariffs. They do not operate under general health insurance and private insurance.
Now let’s take a closer look at how foreign nationals can benefit from dental care through these three options.
How to benefit from Dental Health Services with General Health Insurance ?
With a general health insurance, so oral and dental health services,
Genel sağlık sigortasından ve dolayısıyla ağız ve diş sağlığı hizmetlerinden;
- Foreigners who have a residence permit in Turkey,
- Foreigners who have not a valid insurance in a country except Turkey,
- Foreigners who live in Turkey for more than one year and who applied after this period, can benefit from the general health insurance.
In order to get benefit from general health insurance, foreign individuals must apply the nearest social security center personally. The person who will make application should provide following documents :
- Residence permit,
- Original or photocopy of the text indicating the social security situation in relation to the general health insurance application from the foreign social security institution or work attache,
- Commitment form
Which dental health services are in the scope of general health insurance ?
Let’s have a look at the dental health services which are in the scope of general health insurance.
Oral and dental examinations, clinical examinations required for the diagnosis of oral and dental diseases, tooth extraction, conservative dental treatment and canal treatment, emergency medical services for oral and dental diseases, orthodontic dental treatment for those who are under 18 years old, 50% of the dentures of people who have not completed or are 45 years old are covered by the universal health insurance.
According to the regulation of the Social Security Institution, dental implant treatment is only provided with the provision of “dentistry faculties whose dental practice is obligatory”, at least one of the professions of surgery, prosthesis and periodontology should join the health board with participation of the faculty member.
In other words, the dental implants are only covered by the universal health insurance in certain circumstances. If the tooth implant treatment does not have a vital prescription for the person’s physical health, the general health insurance can not cover the dental implant. In this case it is necessary to go to dentists operating in private clinics.
In the case of a dental prosthesis, a denture prosthesis can be attached to a patient for 4 years according to the general health insurance regulation. This means that a person can benefit from dental prosthesis services at no more than once in 4 years.
Dental braces are also covered by universal health insurance. In the oral and dental health hospitals of state hospitals, oral and dental health hospitals, oral and dental health education and research hospitals, dental offices of universities and clinics.
How to Benefit from Dental Health Services with Private Health Insurance ?
First of all, if you want to get a residence permit, you should have a private health insurance in Turkey. It’s obligatory to get residence permit if you want to stay more than 90 days or more than visa period or visa exemption period, so you should have a valid residence permit to apply for the reisdence permit in Turkey.
Private insurance includes services such as dental examinations, panoramic rontgen, tooth cleaning, tooth extraction, tooth whitening. On the other hand, under the insurance, tooth implant is offered depending on demand. So having private insurance does not automatically allow you to use implant services. If you want your private health insurance fund to cover your dental implant, you should also mention it if you have private insurance.
How to benefit from Private Clinics ?
There are also third option for oral and dental health treatments in Turkey except state and private hospitals. Dentists can also open their own private clinic and provide oral and dental health services. These dentists do not operate under any insurance. You can make an appointment by phone, by internet or by personally from private examinations which have their own pricing.
However, private clinics are not covered by any insurance, so treatment fees are high. In particular, it may be necessary to pay serious amounts for treatments such as dental implants, dental prostheses.
