A field journal of dental, hair & aesthetic care abroad
Field notes · dental — hair — aesthetic
Implants, veneers, hair restoration and cosmetic care in Vietnam, Turkey, Mexico and beyond — researched like an audit, written like a letter from someone who has sat in the chair. The numbers, the red flags, and the questions clinics hope you skip.
A note from the editor
Twenty years ago I sat in a dental clinic in Bangkok and watched British patients receive full-arch implant reconstructions for a third of the London price — with no independent resource to help them decide whether the clinic deserved their trust. I have spent the two decades since trying to fix that gap: visiting more than five hundred clinics across fifty countries, building a structured evaluation framework, and publishing what I find with no commissions attached.
This journal is not a directory and it is not a booking funnel. It is the research I wish those patients had been handed at the door — costs you can challenge, credentials you can verify, and the complications nobody puts in the brochure.
Jenny Wong
Founder & Editor-in-Chief
The departments
Implants, veneers, All-on-4, crowns and full-mouth reconstruction across Mexico, Turkey, Vietnam, Thailand, Hungary and more — without the brochure language.
Open the file → No. 02FUE, DHI, graft counts and real recovery risk. Country-by-country guides, technique explainers, repair-surgery notes, and the warning signs before you pay a deposit.
Open the file → No. 03Procedure tables, trip-cost context, savings ranges and methodology notes — so a low quote can’t hide missing clinical detail.
Open the file →The price ledger
Selected figures from the current research files. The full pages carry method notes, inclusions, exclusions and country context.
| Country | Cost USD | Against the US |
|---|---|---|
| United States | $3,000–$6,000 | Baseline |
| Turkey | $350–$1,500 | 65–80% less |
| Mexico | $700–$1,500 | 60–75% less |
| Vietnam | $450–$2,000 | 60–75% less |
| Thailand | $700–$2,800 | 50–65% less |
| Country | Total cost | Against the US |
|---|---|---|
| United States | ~$13,600 | Baseline |
| Turkey | ~$2,700 | 80% less |
| Mexico | ~$3,200 | 76% less |
| India | ~$3,350 | 75% less |
| Thailand | ~$5,800 | 58% less |
Latest dispatches
An honest guide to the cases where dental tourism is the wrong choice: medical contraindications, financial break-even thresholds, procedure types that don't travel well, and the domestic alternatives most patients never hear about.
Read — 9 minHow long it takes for hair transplant grafts to become mechanically secure and biologically anchored — and what you can and can't do at each stage of the 12-month recovery timeline.
Read — 5 minThe exact diet progression after All-on-4 dental implant surgery — what you can eat in the first days, first weeks, and first months, and when you can return to normal food. Based on clinical protocols, not guesswork.
Read — 4 minWhy some dentists won't touch implants or veneers from abroad, what your rights are, how to find a dentist who will maintain foreign dental work, and what to do when you're stuck without local follow-up care.
Read — 7 minAn honest comparison of veneers, crowns, and composite bonding — what each procedure actually does, which patients suit which option, cost differences abroad, and how to avoid being sold the most expensive option when a cheaper one would work.
Read — 5 minTurkey vs Poland for dental work in 2026: real costs, EU regulatory differences, clinic quality, flight times for UK and European patients, and which destination wins by case type.
Read — 3 minHouse rules
This journal is built around patient leverage, not conversion. The unglamorous parts of the decision remain visible.
Clinics do not buy position, inclusion, or softer wording. Ranking language is treated as a liability unless the evidence is clear.
Bad graft angles, implant failures, aggressive sales teams, rushed travel windows and repair surgery all belong in the decision.
A low quote is not a result. Every table is paired with inclusions, exclusions, country norms, and what to ask before paying.