The email to send before you book anything
This guide covers travel, process and cost. It contains no clinical advice.
Send one numbered email with the fourteen questions below and ask for numbered written replies. It takes ten minutes to send. What comes back tells you two things: the answers themselves, and how a clinic behaves when asked precise questions — which is the better predictor of what happens when something goes wrong.
The fourteen questions
Who treats me
The plan
The money
Afterwards
If a clinic replies by asking you to call instead, ask again for written answers. There is no legitimate reason a clinic cannot put these in an email, and a preference for the phone on questions like these is itself informative.
How to read the reply
Send it to three clinics, including ones in different countries. The variation between replies will teach you more about this market in a week than any amount of further reading, including this site.
Frequently asked questions
Is it rude to send a clinic a list of questions?
No. It is ordinary diligence for a four-figure medical decision taken at a distance, and clinics used to international patients expect it.
What if they will only answer by phone?
Ask again for written answers. If a clinic will not put its guarantee and aftercare terms in writing, that is the answer to a different and more important question.
Which answer matters most?
The aftercare one. It is the question patients most often skip and most often regret skipping.
Should I ask the same of a clinic in my own country?
Yes, and it is a useful calibration. It shows you what a normal, unhurried answer looks like.
The longer version, with the answers that should end the conversation.
How to verify a dental clinic abroadWe will ask them for you
Name the clinic and the treatment. We will put these questions to them in writing and send you what comes back — including the silence, if that is what comes back.