The 'Turkey teeth' pioneer filling gaps in British dental care while being tactful about the state of our gnashers

As someone who avoids the dentist’s chair whenever possible, it is a sign of how far ‘Turkey teeth’ have come that I found myself reclining in one in Istanbul, and felt it was rather relaxing.Admittedly, I was only having a clean, but I find even that an ordeal in the UK because of the scraping and yanking.Here it was gentle buffing and cleansing and my pearly whites emerged whiter and pearlier.Presiding over it is Dr Gulay Akay, 43, who founded the Dentakay chain of clinics with her husband Onur 17 years ago.We may think of ‘Turkey teeth’ as a vanity procedure confined to social media influencers with unfeasibly dazzling smiles.Dental tourism is also increasingly big business. For the Akays, British patients, many of whom cannot obtain dental care on the NHS, are the single biggest clientele. Dr Gulay Akay, 43, founded the Dentakay chain of clinics with her husband Onur 17 years agoBrits make up 40 per cent of all visitors to Dentakay facilities in Istanbul and Antalya.According to its own figures, revenues at the company grew 37 per cent to $66million last year with UK patients accounting for nearly half.Dr Gulay says two-thirds of them are coming for clinical treatment, not cosmetic work.‘I have heard from British people that they might have to wait a very long time for an NHS appointment,’ she says, an understatement given the ‘dental deserts’ in parts of the country.Demand from the UK is so strong that the Akays – she is chief dentist, he is CEO – are opening a new clinic in London’s Harley Street for pre-treatment consultations and for follow-ups.She is too tactful to say whether Brits have worse teeth than other nations, but observes: ‘I think there has been a lack of preventative care in the UK. I see a lot of bone loss in UK patients.’‘Maybe too many sweets and too much sugar. Vitamin D deficiency could also be part of the problem because of the British climate because there is not enough sunshine for a lot of the year.’In an ideal world, UK patients would not feel the need to travel abroad for dental care, but treatment in Turkey is considerably more affordable than at home.Dentakay says it charges £300 for an E.max crown, compared with £1,200 to £1,500, and £740 for a Straumann implant which might be £3,000 at home.Patients buy a bundle, including flights, hotel, transport to and from airport and clinic along with the treatment. The average spend, the company says, is £4,500.One patient I meet, Paul Birch, 60, an IT worker from Shevington, near Wigan, says he is here because he couldn’t find an NHS dentist.‘I looked at lots but none would take NHS patients. I don’t think it is their fault. They are not paid properly for NHS work. 'I have been quoted £2,800 here for four crowns and six extractions in total. It would cost tens of thousands to have it done privately in the UK.’Paul’s wife Joyce is also in Turkey having excess skin from her thighs removed after losing a lot of weight.‘She says I haven’t smiled in 20 years. I hope I will have a smile again.’ Bundle: Patients buy a bundle, including flights, hotel, transport to and from airport and clinic along with the treatmentAs for the Akays, they met in 2006 and married in 2010. Do they talk about teeth all the time?‘We try not to talk about it in front of the kids or it would be 24/7,’ says Dr Gulay.Who has the last word about the company? ‘I decide on the dental side. He likes following his numbers and talking about his ebitda (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation) so he would decide on that. We make decisions together. But I do!’Having started out with a single clinic, Dentakay now has nine including in Saudi Arabia and Tijuana, Mexico as well as Turkiye.Onur’s aim is to open more dental clinics in Turkiye and to expand in Mexico, where Dentakay already has an outlet in Tijuana.‘Then we are planning a clinic in Eastern Europe, Hungary or Poland and we are looking at Vietnam. We want to be a global group,’ he says.There may be a lingering cultural prejudice that Turkish dentistry is inferior to that in the UK.Dental standards are not my area of expertise, but it doesn’t look like it at the Istanbul facility where I meet the Akays.It is a showcase for state-of-the-art dentistry with advanced equipment and its own lab.The dental laboratory, opened in 2023, is very high tech. Dentists take detailed digital scans from the patient, then technicians use specialist software to design crowns, veneers and bridges.These are then produced by computer-controlled machines and fired in dental furnaces. One room is full of artists painstakingly painting crowns by hand.People no longer want the stereotypical glaring-white, uniform Turkey teeth but something more subtle, says Dr Gulay, who sports a brooch on her white coat in the shape of a tooth with a little hat on.Her own laminate veneers, done at the clinic, are very discreet and natural looking.She went into the profession via a degree from Gazi University in Ankara because as a youngster she ‘was always at the dentist.’The younger two of her three daughters want to follow in her footsteps, while the oldest wants to emulate her father and go into business.‘I do mostly supervision [of the dental work] now,’ she says. ‘But I miss treating patients all the time.’Snobbery about Turkey teeth may be outmoded, but there are valid concerns about the risks of treatment overseas.‘We do everything possible to avoid any horror stories,’ Dr Gulay says.The Turkish government also has an incentive to make sure standards of treatment for foreign patient are high and the industry is well-regulated.Dental tourism is one of the few potential growth areas for the country’s troubled economy but continued expansion relies on patient trust.The fast-expanding market is currently worth $600million and is forecast to hit $1billion by the turn of the decade.A Turkish government patient protection regime was set up in 2017 and mandatory insurance for complications was recently introduced.Dr Gulay says the incidence of complications at Dentakay is about 2 per cent, including minor issues that can be dealt with over the phone or in partner clinics in the UK.The Turkish government supports medical and dental tourism with generous tax incentives. That said, inflation is running at a painful rate of 30 per cent. Interest rates of 36 per cent put the recent rise in the UK into sharp perspective.In that context, having the bulk of its revenues in sterling, euros and dollars is a big plus for Dentakay.It can protect against inflation, though at the moment the Turkish lira is not falling enough against the dollar to offset the effects.The Turkish stock market recently suffered a dramatic crash following a scandal over alleged share price manipulation, which has hit confidence among international investors.Dental tourism companies face other risks, including wars, pandemics and, more prosaically, being undercut by even cheaper destinations.None of this daunts the Akays. ‘My wife is the 100 per cent shareholder and until now we have grown organically with bank finance,’ says Onur.‘But now we have big plans and big projects. We are thinking about capital injections from international banks and maybe private equity.’What about a London float one day? ‘In future yes, why not?’Anyone thinking of travelling overseas for treatment should do careful research before they go. The General Dental Council website has a guide specifically on dental care. The NHS and Foreign office have information on medical treatment overseas including dental.DIY INVESTING PLATFORMSAJ BellAJ BellEasy investing and ready-made portfoliosHargreaves LansdownHargreaves LansdownFree fund dealing and investment ideasinteractive investorinteractive investorFlat-fee investing from £4.99 per monthFreetradeFreetradeInvesting Isa now free on basic planTrading 212Trading 212Free share dealing and no account feeAffiliate links: If you take out a product This is Money may earn a commission. These deals are chosen by our editorial team, as we think they are worth highlighting. 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