'Tirana teeth': Albania hopes to be the new Turkey for dental work

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Anthony Hook is sitting in a dentist's chair, grinning toothily into a handheld mirror. He has been asked to pose for photos showing off his new smile – and he is only too happy to oblige.

The 58-year-old window cleaner from Bolton, in Greater Manchester, is the proud owner of a sparkling new set of "Tirana teeth".

That is not a brand name – at least, not yet. But it would be a fitting slogan as Albania moves decisively into the medical tourism business.

Tirana, its capital city, is the focus of operations. And once you spot the first tooth, you start seeing them everywhere. They seem to be all over the city centre.

Rest assured, these are not the physical remains from a night out that ended in a punch up. Rather, they are the kind of larger than life-size illuminated molar that – in these parts at least – advertise that a dental clinic is not too far away.

In Tirana's metropolitan area alone, there are almost four hundred dental clinics – and most of them are in the city centre. That's more than enough for a population of around 600,000 people.

So, it is not surprising that dozens of dentists are now targeting customers from further afield. They have set up websites and signage in English and Italian, as well as Albanian.

Dental implants in Albania are typically around €600 ($700; £516) per tooth, similar in price to what is charged in Turkey, which has long been the main overseas destination for people in western Europe who are seeking much cheaper dental work than they can get at home.

The same treatment in the UK, France or German can easily cost four times as much.

For Hook the appeal was irresistible. He made his first visit to Tirana to watch England's footballers play Albania last year – but then found himself intrigued by all the signs for dentists. That nudged him into doing something about his missing teeth.

He thought he's give Albania rather than Turkey, because he was concerned by media coverage of dental or hair transplant work in Turkey that had gone wrong.

In fact, even the UK Foreign Office warns that it is "aware of seven British nationals having died in Turkey in 2025 following medical procedures"., external It adds that "some British nationals have also experienced complications [after surgery in Turkey], and needed further treatment or surgery following their procedure."

Hook says he wouldn't go to Turkey "because I have heard so many bad things", adding that he investigated thoroughly before taking the plunge in Tirana.

"I went onto the internet and looked into it properly. It took me two days to research it because I'm not one for jumping into anything."

Several return trips later, Anthony now has a mouthful of impressive implants – and, unsurprisingly, he is all smiles. "I'd come here once a month for a holiday if I could," he chuckles.

Elite Dental is one of the biggest clinics in Tirana. It is fully licensed by the Albanian health authorities – and so are all of its 15 resident dentists.

The man who runs the place, Ardtur Dema, says he is "not in favour of damaging proper teeth for aesthetics". Instead he says the priority is "changing people's lives" through restoring their ability to chew, and indeed – to smile.

Dema believes that as long as Albania remains outside the EU, prices for treatment are likely to remain low. At the same time, low-cost airlines have greatly expanded their flight network to and from Tirana, meaning that he is as likely to see a patient from Turin as he is from Tirana.

But Dema is concerned that the explosion of tourism could lead to less scrupulous operators ruining the business for everyone. He is a member of the newly-established Albanian Medical Tourism Association – but many others are not, at least not yet.

Albania's Prime Minister, Edi Rama, tells the BBC that the government is playing catch-up after five years that have seen overall international arrivals to Albania more than double. Some sort of official seal of approval for medical tourism facilities is a possibility – but the government has yet to sort out the details.

"It's a new industry that is within the tourism industry umbrella that is showing a big potential and where there are very good people," says Rama.

He adds that the government wants to help all the reputable providers "survive", and to guard against any informal "bad competition".

Along with dental treatments, some visitors to Albania are starting to think "hairline" as well as "coastline".

Some transplant clinics are employing Turkish specialists – others are actually branches of businesses based in Turkey.

Vatanmed, in Tirana, is one of the latter. Sales specialist and health consultant Ayşe Mina Kasemi describes the business as a "global brand", with 15 clinics across a number of countries. That scale, she suggests, makes it "a safe place to trust" for the international patients arriving for treatment.

Besides that, Ayşe notes, Albania has its own appeal.

"When people decide to have a hair transplant operation here in Albania, they also want to have a holiday here, because Albania is a very beautiful place," she says, while adding a note of caution for hair transplant patients. "For the first two or three days, they have to be careful – they are not allowed to be exposed to the sun."

That is not a factor that concerns Anthony Hook. He happily sports a shaven head – and has no intention of following his dental treatment with a radical rug rethink. So enjoying Albania's beaches and scenery was very much part of the attraction of getting his teeth fixed here.

"There's a lot to do in Tirana… there's a lot to do along the coast there, it's absolutely stunning," he says. "I want to do it now before it gets too popular and it's ruined like everywhere else."

With his new teeth, enjoying Albania's cuisine will doubtless also be part of Anthony's programme. Apart from anything else, that smile is going to dazzle in the holiday snaps.

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