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MY SAY - DENTISTRY IN TURKEY
Dentistry in Turkey
BY DR. ELIF ÇIFTÇIOĞLU
The perspectives
A basic dentistry degree in Turkey
lasts 5 years. People who graduate
with a specific degree from a dentistry
faculty (numbering 48 in total) take
their first steps into this field of work
by taking the title “Dentist”. There are
currently around 24 thousand dentists
working actively in our country. Considering
the total population of Turkey
is around 74 million people, this
works out at 1 dentist for every 3,000
people.
The potential of up to 3,000 patients
often leads to many newly graduated
dentists considering the idea of opening
up their own clinic. Dentistry services
in Turkey receive around 80-
85% of work from clinics. The clinics
play an important role in informing
patients about relevant illness and
health subject material and also help
create a personal relationship between
the patient and the dentist.
However, this low dentist to patient
ratio has started to change as a result
of the policies applied under “The
Change in Health” Act. The increase
in dentists working in public health
centres, and the increase in these
health centers themselves, has resulted
in changes to the clinics. Basic dentistry
courses have now started to be
taught in these public centres. There
were around 1,500 dentists working in
public centres in the year 2000 but
this number has now climbed to
around 7,000.
The number of dentists per thousand
people in Turkey stands at 0.3, while
in OECD countries the average figure
is 0.7. This highlights the low number
of dental products and services in Turkey
and also highlights the potential
for growth. The Turkish Government
wants to increase the number of dentist
per person to the figures seen in
other EU countries. They aim to have
50,000 dentists working in this area
by the year 2023. The rise in the numbers
of Dental Health Centers
(ADSM) and Dentistry Faculties highlights
their determination in reaching
this target.
Dental hygiene
However, toothpaste consumption in
Turkey stands at just 110 gr and
toothbrush consumption is still under
1 unit per person per year. The frequency
in which Turkish people see a
dentist is also below one visit per
year. I believe that doubling the number
of “dental health centers” and dentists
will still not be enough to solve
dental health problems in this country.
Unless Turkish society is made more
aware of dental health care, I can only
see the number of unemployed dentists
increasing.
In more positive news, the number of
special dental branches in Turkey has
increased to 8 in total in 2011. Orofacial
and Maxillofacial Surgery, Maxillofacial
Radiology, Pedodontics, Endodontics,
Orthodontics, Periodonthology,
Prosthetic Dentistry and
Restorative Dentistry have all become
new specialties. There is also the option
to complete a post-graduate dentistry
education of 3 or 4 years by
passing the “Examination for Specialty
in Dentistry.” This is in addition
to the original 5 year basic dentistry
education.
Demand of services
There has been a rise in patient demand
for more policlinics and hospitals
that have international quality
standards and have more than one
dentist/specialist working together.
These clinics and hospitals have a
wide range of dental services all under
one roof and provide patients with all
their dental health needs.
These centres also provide the option
for general anesthesia, which is often
the preferred choice for children, patients
who feel scared or anxious, patients
with a mental health issue, or
patients with low pain tolerance. General
anesthesia operations are performed
by a qualified anesthesiologist
in secure operating room conditions.
They are often used in order to
shorten the period of treatment or to
make a patient who needs a complicated
operation more comfortable.
The increase in population, life quality
and high health service costs in
many countries has resulted in people
wanting to get a higher quality service
for a cheaper price. This has led to the
increase of health tourism. Extra factors,
such as improved medical technology,
low transportation costs and
on-line marketing has also led to the
development of health tourism.
Many areas of dental health, as well
as other branches of health care, have
been affected positively from health
tourism in Turkey. The main reasons
for this positive impact seem to be
down to the fact treatments are now
being performed at a lower cost but
with higher quality, along with the
fact doctors and specialists have been
educated to the high standards of
Western Europe and America. Both
the dental health service and health
insurance in Turkey make the country
an attractive option for patients.
I believe that Turkish dentistry will
enjoy great success over the coming
years thanks to the improved quality
of education, studies related to international
accreditation, the use of high
tech specialist equipment and the improvement
in overall quality of service.
Med. Dent.
Dr. Elif Çiftçioğlu
Born in 1978
(Istanbul/Turkey),
Dr Çiftçioğlu graduated
from the
Dentistry Faculty
of Istanbul University
in 2000. She completed her
PhD degree in Endonontics in 2008
at the same university. She has been
working as part of the Dentistanbul
Dental Group as the MD of Dentistanbul
Beşiktaş Dental Hospital
since 2008.
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