Turkey teeth: They go for a perfect smile and come back with pain

There has been a stir in the media with the new dental trend called “turkey teeth”which according to his documentary BBC it is quite a controversial process. Hundreds of British dentists have treated patients with serious complications after traveling abroad to fit cut-price porcelain veneers.

The new fad, which appeared on ITV’s Love Island and via the hashtag #Turkeyteeth, has given some the smile of their dreams, but left many with lifelong pain and Britain’s dentists scrambling to pick up “the broken pieces”.

The latest aesthetic trend, which has been popularized by stars such as Katie Price and Jack Fincham of ‘Love Island’, involves the installation of cases or porcelain veneers. It is supposed to ensure a bright smile and is making the rounds on social media with the hashtag #Turkeyteeth, which has been viewed more than 100 million times.

His documentary BBC looks at the implications of Turkey’s… teeth when treatment goes wrong, and questions whether it’s worth making the journey for cheaper treatment, as UK dentists warn that complications could force patients into even greater costs to restore the mistakes as well as the pain caused by the previous treatment abroad.

In one case, Tiktok user Lisa Martyn revealed how her experience turned into a nightmare after she traveled to Turkey for the cosmetic treatment and paid €3,500.

She told the BBC: “They cheated me out of my dream of having a full set of perfect teeth, which I would never have had any problems with, but they grossly misled me about what they were going to do to me by selling me porcelains and not cases. No one sat down and told me the risks or if there were other options. I thought that once my new teeth were fitted, that would be it, there would never be any more problems. But not only have I been in excruciating pain every day since then, but it has also cost me thousands of euros. It’s the biggest mistake of my life.”

Lisa traveled to Turkey last year, thinking she was going to have 26 porcelain veneers fitted in a bid to get her son’s ‘Hollywood smile’ for her wedding, but she was actually fitted with trays, a much more invasive procedure.

Months after her treatment, the 48-year-old is in excruciating painafter developing an abscess that nearly paralyzed half of her face and suffering from nerve sensitivity.

Describing what happened on her social media channel, she said: “I have never experienced anything like this in my life. Then they made holes… I was jumping out of the chair for two hours. No one asked me how I was or even offered me a glass of water. My mouth was so swollen it looked like something out of a horror movie. I was numb from my neck to the tip of my nose, but I could still have feeling in my mouth. I still didn’t know that all my natural teeth had been filed and that these were trays and not porcelain veneers. It was only after I returned home that a dentist from the UK told me. Now I am still in pain and have come to terms with the fact that I will have to have dentures and live with pain every day. I wanted to look good for my son’s wedding, but now I would give anything to know that on that day I won’t be in pain and agony.”

In accordance with BBCis unable to eat properly and has lost over two kilos since the treatment.

Lisa shared her story on Tiktok to raise awareness of the dangers of going abroad for cheap treatments and says the cost of restoring her teeth will “cripple” her financially.

The treatment has proven popular with social media influencers and TV stars, including model Katie Price.

In August 2020, she shared a video showing her natural teeth filed down to what she said made her look like a James Bond villain, before new porcelain veneers were fitted while in Turkey. The treatment took place after her original porcelain veneers had come out. However, in October of that year he had to return to Turkey again, since some of the new porcelain faces had also come out.

A representative for the star told The Sun at the time that she had to return to Turkey to have work done on her teeth fixed.

Love Island star Jack Fincham also underwent the same dental ‘operation’ in Turkey before appearing on the ITV reality show. In fact, when he spoke publicly about what he did with his teeth, the change to his teeth that he made in Turkey, Google searches for the term “Turkey teeth” skyrocketed.

A research carried out on behalf of the BBC found that hundreds of dentists in the UK had dealt with patients suffering from complications after work on their teeth had been carried out abroad.

Dr MJ Rowland-Warmann, director of a dental clinic in Liverpool, told the broadcaster: “If I put 20 trays on a 21-year-old to improve the color of his teeth, I’d have my license revoked, I’d be banned.”

He said his clinic receives one to three calls a day from people who have problems with their teeth after traveling abroad, but his clinic cannot provide treatment.

Some can’t floss because their cases are stuck together or they hurt because they have bleeding gums.

“But it’s easier for us not to take on this patient. If we take this patient on and do any work on his teeth, that’s when the problems really start and that’s when the British dentist becomes responsible. A risk we cannot take. This puts patients in a very vulnerable position trying to seek help, and it becomes very expensive to try to repair the damage that has been done.”

However, as the “Daily Mail” points out, not everyone who receives treatment abroad experiences complications.

The BBC also spoke to Tilly Entwhistle from Manchester, who said she was thrilled with the work done on her teeth in Turkey, with the repair essentially in her smile, since she was likened, as a child, to Bugs Bunny.

However, she said that since she returned to the UK and had to see a dentist, she was told they were not going to touch her teeth as they did not want to take responsibility for any problems with the work done in Turkey.

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