How to Research a Dental Clinic's Credentials in Türkiye

Clinic websites often display certificates, logos and badges. They look reassuring, but a logo on a website is a claim. Verification means checking that claim against a source the clinic doesn't control.

Türkiye publishes the sources you need. Most are in Turkish, so this guide tells you where to look and what to type.

The three things to verify

What	Where to check
The clinic's health tourism authorisation	Ministry of Health lists of authorised facilities
Any agency or coordinator involved	HealthTürkiye list of authorised agencies
The dentist who will treat you	Turkish Dental Association "Dişhekimi Bul" search

Check each one separately. A clinic can be authorised while the agency selling you the package isn't, and a clinic can be real while the dentist treating you is someone you haven't been told about.

What the rules require

Türkiye regulates health tourism through the Regulation on International Health Tourism and Tourist Health, published in the Official Gazette on 26 April 2025 (No. 32882). It replaced the earlier 2017 regulation.

Under Article 5, health facilities and intermediaries must hold an International Health Tourism Authorisation Certificate (Uluslararası Sağlık Turizmi Yetki Belgesi) to operate in international health tourism. Facilities receive theirs from the Ministry of Health. Intermediaries (agencies and coordinators) apply through USHAŞ, the state-owned International Health Services company.

Article 13 adds two details that help you check:

• The name shown on a clinic's or agency's website must match the name on its authorisation certificate.
• An authorised facility must publish its accreditation document or certificate on its website.

The regulation also lets patients contact an authorised facility directly. You don't have to go through an agency.

Step 1: Find the clinic on the Ministry of Health list

The Ministry of Health's Health Tourism Department publishes a page called Yetkili Sağlık Tesisleri (Authorised Health Facilities). It links to four lists:

• Yetkili Hastaneler: hospitals
• Yetkili Tıp Merkezleri: medical centres
• Yetkili Muayenehaneler: individual practices, including dentists' practices
• Yetkili Diğer Sağlık Tesisleri: other facilities, including private oral and dental health polyclinics (Özel Ağız ve Diş Sağlığı Polikliniği)

Each list is a PDF in Turkish, sorted by province (İl), with the facility's name, type, address and phone number. To check a dental clinic:

1. Ask the clinic for its full official name and the city it is in. This is often different from its brand or Instagram name.
2. Open the "other facilities" list for a polyclinic, or the "practices" list for an individual dentist's practice.
3. Search the PDF (Ctrl+F or Cmd+F) for a distinctive word from the name, and check the province and address.

If you can't find the clinic, ask it which list it appears in and under which name. The lists are updated periodically, so a very recent authorisation may not appear yet. Ask the clinic for its certificate details in that case, and check again later.

Step 2: Check the agency, if there is one

If a coordinator, agency or "patient consultant" is arranging your treatment, check it separately. HealthTürkiye, the Ministry of Health's official health tourism portal, has an Acenteler (Agencies) page listing authorised intermediaries. Each entry shows its health tourism authorisation certificate number. The page is in Turkish and can be filtered by city.

Compare the company name with the name on any contract, invoice or payment request you receive. See Clinic Coordinator or Travel Agency? for the questions to ask.

Step 3: Check the dentist's registration

Ask for the full name of the dentist who will plan and carry out your treatment, not just the clinic's medical director.

The Turkish Dental Association (Türk Dişhekimleri Birliği) has a search box called Dişhekimi Bul (Find a Dentist) on its homepage, tdb.org.tr. Enter the dentist's first name (Ad) or surname (Soyad), with at least two characters, and optionally choose a province (İl). The results list registered dentists matching the name.

Turkish names often contain letters such as ı, ş, ğ and ç. If a search returns nothing, try again with only the surname, or ask the clinic to write the name exactly as it appears in Turkish.

Step 4: Make sure the names match

Before you pay anything, check that the same name appears on:

• the clinic's website and the Ministry list;
• your written quotation;
• your invoice or deposit request;
• the bank account or payment page you are asked to pay.

A mismatch isn't automatically a problem, since groups and agencies sometimes invoice for clinics. But it is a question to ask, in writing, before you pay.

What verification can and can't tell you

Verification confirms that formal requirements are met. It doesn't tell you:

• whether a specific treatment plan is right for you;
• how communication, organisation or follow-up will feel;
• what your final price will be.

The UK Foreign Office makes the same point: it lists providers but does not endorse any practitioner or facility. Clinical questions belong with a licensed dentist who has examined you, ideally including your own dentist at home, as the UK General Dental Council recommends. For the rest of your research, see How to Choose a Dental Clinic in Türkiye.

Insider note: In our experience, reputable clinics answer credential questions quickly and without fuss. Hesitation or vague answers are worth noting.

A message you can send

"Before I decide, could you please send me in writing: your clinic's full official name and address as it appears on the Ministry of Health's list of authorised facilities, your International Health Tourism Authorisation Certificate details, the full name of the dentist who would treat me, and, if an agency is involved, the agency's name and authorisation certificate number?"

Track the answers in our Clinic Checklist.