The recent advancements in diagnostic technologies and treatment methods in dentistry have made dental implant application one of the main options in the rehabilitation of edentulous areas. It has been reported that more than 10 million people have lost their teeth, and by 2025, this number is expected to reach 60 million in Europe alone.
Dental implants are artificial substitutes for lost teeth and all of the surrounding tissues. Osseointegrated dental implants, developed by Branemark in 1965, are a successful method providing aesthetic, functional, and physiological rehabilitation of edentulous areas.
Dental implants are manufactured from pure titanium or titanium dioxide-coated titanium. Following successful osseointegration with the surrounding bone, superstructures will be attached to the implants. Superstructures can be different prosthesis types and made from different materials.
The prices of whole-mouth rehabilitation by dental implants can vary from country to country. Exchange rates, material costs, and labor differences are some reasons for the variation in prices. In this study, a comparison was made between the dental implant prices of Germany and Turkey, which are both European countries.
Turkey has become one of the countries with the most affordable and high-quality dental treatments and valid health tourism, attracting many patients from Germany and the entire world. Today, all around the world, dental treatment prices can change from country to country and even from city to city. While there are some points making treatment more expensive for big cities of one country (such as renting accommodation, higher salaries for dentists, etc.), some other things making prices less expensive for other countries from different parts of the world (such as the value of currency exchange rate and lower salaries for dentists) were effective. Ever since the prices of dental treatments differ significantly between some countries, many patients have chosen to have their dental treatments abroad.
Methodology
This research is a survey study and employed an online questionnaire through Google Forms to collect responses from abroad patients. The questionnaire comprised 29 questions, including demographic characteristics of the patients, and the condition of their dentition.
- It also contained questions regarding patients’ dental treatment experiences in Turkey or Germany, serving as a basis for comparison.
- The reasons underlying patients’ choices of Turkey or Germany as treatment destinations were also queried. The study sought to assess the prices of various procedures performed on a single patient, focusing on five implant-supported prosthetic procedures, with accompanying surgical procedures where applicable, such as tooth extraction and sinus lift.
- The prices of the procedures were compiled through dentist websites, dentists themselves, or by other means. The dentists who treated the patients were specifically questioned about the prices.
- Price quotations obtained from different dental clinics for the same procedure were generated in the analysis, and these conditions are declared in the study.
- This study is based on 100 patient responses. The current focus of the study is only on fixed dental prostheses (crowns and bridges), and removable dental prostheses (overdentures), where at least one implant is applied to prosthodontic rehabilitation.
- The study did not include endodontic treatments, tooth whitening, orthodontics, and similar treatments. Some questionnaires were partially filled out, and some patients were treated in other countries.
- These questionnaires were excluded from the analysis. Overall, 100 responses from patients who were treated in Turkey or Germany for the indicated prosthodontic procedures fulfill the criteria for inclusion in the study.
- Two separate comparative analyses are presented by considering the current state of the economies of Germany and Turkey.
- Firstly, regarding only the prices of procedures, the prices of considered procedures in both countries are compared according to the quantitative percentage difference.
- Secondly, given the verbal opinions of patients about their dental treatment experiences, the reasons underlying their treatments in Turkey or Germany are compared qualitatively
- . The qualitative analysis of this study is based on a thematic analysis of verbal opinions of patients. Ethical approval of the study was received from Istanbul Medeniyet University, Ethics Committee for Noninvasive Studies with Decision No: 2023/0196. Informed consent was obtained from each patient via the online questionnaire before participation in the study.
Cost of Whole Mouth Dental Implants in Germany
Implantation in one jaw is a time-consuming, complex surgical operation that is nevertheless very well accepted by patients. The success of the operation can be reflected in the low percentage of failures and postoperative complications
1. The growing interest in implantology and the increasing number of patients treatable by implantology has led to the establishment of numerous dental clinics providing this type of treatment, and patients in this area are being informed more and more widely. Parallel with this development, the competition of dental clinics has strengthened. Therefore, information on the prices of implants and the other costs of treatment has become increasingly available to patients. The current average cost of one dental implant is evidenced by the number of implants sold annually against the average market price for one implant.
The average cost of an implant can depend on several factors, such as the technological development around implant production in the last decade and the associated lowering of the costs of raw materials and machinery, the desired target group in the setting of a particular price strategy, etc. Within the scope of this work, a survey of prices of whole mouth prosthodontic restoration on implants is conducted. Dental clinics are situated in the Czech Republic, but so-called dental care centers in Germany, Hungary, and Poland are the object of the price analysis. The patient often is a key point in price schedule, because a lot of dental clinics try to aim at “paying” patients, thus conducting treatment with foreign citizens. This is mainly due to the difference in purchasing powers – almost one-third of the population in bordering countries pays for treatment from out of its own pocket. Thus, dental treatment abroad becomes very popular.
Cost of Whole Mouth Dental Implants in Turkey
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Popularity for Dental Tourism | – Known for high-quality oral health services at low prices. |
| National Health Expenditures (2018) | – Dental services accounted for 2.2% of total national health expenditures. |
| Preference in Dental Tourism (2021) | – Turkey preferred in 50% of dental tourism cases due to low prices of social security and private institutions. |
| Accredited Institutions | – 54 accredited institutions for dental placements in Turkey. |
| Social Security Institutions (2018) | – Total: 1,517 |
| – Private: 233 | |
| Average Price for Full Mouth Implant Coating | – $6,204 |
| Price Range for Full Mouth Dental Implants | – $3,750 to $9,780 |
| Factors Influencing Price | – Dentist’s experience |
| – Prestigiousness of the clinic | |
| Comparison with Other Countries | – Prices significantly cheaper in Turkey compared to countries like Germany. |
Comparison of Prices and Factors Influencing Cost
The data can be grouped in the following manner. The first group comprises a company ownership type. There are local Turkish companies in this group. Turkish clinics in this group do not outsource laboratory work outside the Turkey, stand-alone clinics that are not connected with labs, and family-owned clinics. European-run clinics that outsource laboratory work outside Turkey (Switzerland, Germany England Netherlands) belong in the second group. German companies in this group usually owned destination clinics in Turkey. A point of difference is the material treatment and equipment in this particular laboratory, because of the much higher number of preparations. Moreover, dental labs are strictly connected to the SaS software, and work is done mostly without implants for restorations from precious metals.
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