The five-to-seven-day course is the most asked-about and least understood part of overseas dentistry. The marketing language is generous; the schedule itself is plainer. This is what the days actually look like.
Day 1 — Arrival.
Antalya airport pickup is booked against the flight, not the time. The driver waits in arrivals with the patient’s name. Transfer to the hotel is roughly twenty minutes. Check-in, an unpacking hour, and — if the flight was kind and the patient has the energy — an optional welcome consultation at the hospital. No instruments come out on day one. The first day is meant to land.
Day 2 — Planning and prep.
Photographs, X-rays, and a digital intra-oral scan. The scan and the photographs feed the smile design review with our lead dentist. The plan is talked through tooth by tooth: which teeth are veneered, which are crowned, which are left alone, the shade, the proposed edge length, and the materials. The patient sees their own scan rotated on the screen and signs a treatment plan with the brands and prices written out — Hiossen titanium for any implant, Ivoclar IPS e.max for veneers, zirconium dioxide for crowns. Deposit and signature happen on this day, not before.
Day 3 — Surgery or preparation.
The clinical day. If extractions are on the plan, they happen here. If implants are on the plan, they are placed under local anaesthesia by our lead dentist. For veneer and crown cases, the teeth are prepared, an intra-oral scan captures the prep, and a temporary set is bonded for the lab days. Day three is the longest chair day of the course. The patient leaves with a temporary smile, post-op instructions in writing, and a phone number.
Day 4 — Lab day.
No appointment. The lab in the hospital mills the zirconium crowns on the day’s scan and presses the IPS e.max veneers in the same building. The patient rests, eats softly, and stays out of the chair. This is the day the work is being made — it is also the day the schedule looks empty, which is the point.
Day 5 — Try-in and fit.
The first try-in is for fit, contact, and shade. Adjustments are made at the chair. A second fit confirms occlusion and margin. Final cementation follows. Photographs are taken under the same lighting as day two so the before-and-after sits on a like-for-like comparison. The patient leaves with their teeth bonded, a bite check booked for the next morning, and aftercare written down.
Day 6 — Buffer and departure.
A final check at the hospital: occlusion review, polish, photographs, and a written aftercare protocol. Transfer to the airport in time for the return flight. The patient leaves Antalya with the brand of every piece in their mouth named on the file, a UK aftercare appointment booked at Manchester or Belfast, and a phone number that answers in English.
No day on this schedule is mysterious. Each one has a name, a purpose, and a deliverable. We send the full schedule to the patient before they buy the flight, because the schedule is what is being bought.
Danielle came to us nervous in March 2025. She left, by her own description on Google, comfortable, then confident, then with a result she calls outstanding. The schedule above is the schedule she walked.