The trend for the perfect beautiful smile has exploded in the last 10 years, no longer considered a luxury of the celeb world, dental work has been shoved to the forefront of social media.
The natural smile is no longer in vogue, its all about toilet-bowl white horse teeth with a side of pumped-up lips. But with every industry there is a dark underbelly and for dentistry right now that is ‘turkey teeth’
What is turkey teeth
Turkey teeth is phrase coined somewhere in the social media jungle. It is used to describe the negative outcome of aggressive dental treatment. The turkey part of the phrase comes from the experiences of people who have had failed treatment after going to Turkey; this seems to be country that has been successful in promoting and providing this sort of treatment
Why do people go to Turkey
The main reason is cost and deceptive marketing- a dental clinic will set up in Turkey and offer all-inclusive packages. This will include branded as flights, luxury transport, five star hotels and of course a smile makeover treatment. They make no mention of the risks involved or that the treatment can have complications; this is the most important part of their marketing strategy.
Why is Turkey Teeth considered bad
Some of these dental clinics will advertise the treatment as a cheap easy solution to ‘ugly teeth’ using veneers. Instead the teeth are aggressively drilled down to pegs so that the fake teeth can be glued on. Instead of veneers the teeth have crowns glued on. The problem with this treatment is that the processing of drilling can heat up the nerve inside the tooth. This effectively cooks the nerve and causes it to die. Most patients wont realise this until they have already travelled home, at this point the dead nerve starts to become infected- causing pain and swelling. The glued-on teeth have to then be removed to treat the infection, leaving a mouth of pegs.
Whats the difference between a crown and veneer
A veneer is a thin sheet of material (like porcelain) which is glued onto the front surface of the tooth. Usually some tooth has to be drilled back to prevent the veneer looking bulky. Newer materials are stronger and thinner and therefore the teeth need no or minimal drilling(minimal-prep). Many people now find the combination of bulky veneers and lip fillers to be aesthetically pleasing, and therefore thick veneers are now even a treatment choice.
A crown is a fake tooth (e.g. porcelain) with a hole in the bottom. The tooth is drilled down to a stump and the crown is glued over the stump. Compared to a crown, this needs drilling of all sides of the teeth. This is useful for a heavily broken-down tooth, but the nerve is a delicate tissue and has to be treated with respect; if it dies then the tooth is in big trouble.
Why do people still go abroad for this treatment
The marketing of these companies is relentless. They fill the digital world with endorsements from patients and celebrities. The general public are made to feel like fools for not taking up such an incredible offer. The guilt-trip nature can easily lure a vulnerable/insecure person into travelling abroad. When things go wrong these companies will work hard to remove bad reviews/bad media from the internet.
dentalsmackers 