In the UK you cannot walk into an imaging centre and ask for a dental X-ray. The law says a dentist has to request it for you. That is the step most people get stuck on, and it is the step we take off your hands. We refer you to a CT Dent centre near you, you pay £50 on the day, and the scan is delivered to you and to us through a secure cloud link. Our oral surgeon reads it, and you get a fixed written quote before you book a flight. The scan is yours to keep and to use anywhere.
This guide explains why we ask for a scan, which scan you need, where to get it, and what happens after.
Why We Ask for a Scan Before You Travel
Photographs show us your teeth. An X-ray shows us everything a photograph cannot: the roots, the bone around them, hidden infection, old root canals, the position of the nerve in the lower jaw and the sinuses in the upper jaw. For dental implants, that is the whole picture. Without it, any quote is a guess.
The reason this matters to you is the quote itself. The most common complaint we hear about clinics abroad is that the price changed on arrival. That happens when a plan is made from photographs and the X-ray on day one shows something different. When we plan from a scan, what we quote is what you pay. If a bone graft or a sinus lift is needed, you find out at home, in writing, not in the chair.
OPG or CBCT: Which Scan Do You Need?
For almost everyone, an OPG. It is the wide, flat X-ray of your whole mouth that most UK dentists take at a check-up, sometimes called a panoramic X-ray. It takes about ten seconds, you stand still while the machine moves around your head, and the radiation dose is roughly what you receive from natural background sources in a day or two.
A CBCT scan, short for Cone Beam Computed Tomography, is a 3D image of the jaw. We ask for one from the UK only in complex cases: severe bone loss, a possible sinus lift, or where dental implants would sit close to the nerve. Our clinic in Antalya has its own CBCT machine, so patients who arrive with an OPG have a CBCT taken here as part of the treatment. There is no need to pay for both in the UK.
| Scan | What it shows | Who needs it before flying | Time in the machine |
|---|---|---|---|
| OPG (panoramic X-ray) | All teeth, roots, bone levels, infections, old root canals, sinuses in one 2D image | Everyone considering dental implants, dental crowns or a full-mouth plan | About 10 seconds |
| CBCT (3D cone beam scan) | Bone width and height in 3D, nerve position, sinus floor, exact implant planning | Complex cases only: severe bone loss, likely sinus lift, implants near the nerve. Taken at our clinic for everyone else | About 20 seconds |
If you are only considering dental veneers or dental crowns on healthy teeth, you may not need a scan at all. Send your photographs first and we will tell you.
How It Works, Step by Step
1. Tell us about your case
Start a free online consultation with a few photographs of your teeth and a note on what you want done. Our surgeons confirm whether you need a scan and which one.
2. We send the referral and book the appointment
We complete the dentist’s referral that UK imaging centres require and book you into the CT Dent centre closest to you. You choose the day and time. Nothing to arrange yourself.
3. You attend and pay £50
Bring the referral confirmation. A qualified radiographer takes the scan. The whole visit takes about fifteen minutes and the £50 fee is paid to the imaging centre on the day.
4. The scan reaches you and us by cloud
CT Dent uploads the scan to a secure online viewer. You get a link, and so do we. There is nothing to download, convert or email, and the file is too large to email in any case. Our oral surgeon reviews it and your fixed written quote follows in GBP.
Where You Can Have the Scan
CT Dent is a CQC-registered dental imaging group used by more than 10,000 UK dental practices. Every scan is taken by a qualified radiographer. At the time of writing they have fourteen centres:
- London: Harley Street, Finchley, New Malden, Hornchurch and Bromley
- South and East: Southampton, Henley-on-Thames, Colchester
- Midlands and West: Birmingham, Nottingham, Bristol
- North and Scotland: Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow
Addresses and opening hours are on the CT Dent locations page. Tell us where you live and we book the nearest one. If none is within reach, we can usually refer you to another imaging centre, or your own dentist can take an OPG on our request.
What It Costs, and Why It Beats a UK Consultation
The scan is £50. That is the only cost, and it is the same whether you go on to book with us or not.
Compare that with the usual route. A private consultation for dental implants in the UK is typically charged before anything is done, and the X-ray or CBCT is charged on top, often as a separate appointment. Patients tell us they have paid several hundred pounds to be told what they already suspected. For £50 you get the same image, read by a PhD oral surgeon, and a full treatment plan with prices, with no obligation attached to it.
The Scan Is Yours
The cloud link is sent to you, not just to us. You can open it on any device, download the files, and share it with any dentist you like. Some patients use it to get a second opinion from another clinic in Turkey, or to show their own dentist at home. We would rather you compared plans made from the same scan than compared guesses. If you decide against travelling, you have still had a proper look at your dental health for £50, which is not something the UK system makes easy.
Already Have a Recent X-Ray?
If your own dentist took an OPG in the last year, you do not need another one. Ask the practice for a copy. They are obliged to give you your records, usually as a file or a link. If the file is too large to email, send it through a free transfer service such as WeTransfer, or ask the practice to share it by link. A photo of the X-ray on a screen is better than nothing, but the original file is what our surgeon needs. A CBCT scan comes as a folder of DICOM files; send the whole folder zipped, not a single image from it.
Frequently Asked Questions About Scans Before Treatment
Can I get an OPG or CBCT scan in the UK without a dentist?
No. The Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations require every X-ray to be requested by a registered referrer, which in practice means a dentist or doctor. Imaging centres will ask for the referral form when you arrive. As your treating dentist, we provide it.
How much radiation is in a dental X-ray?
Very little. An OPG is one of the lowest-dose X-rays in medicine, comparable to a day or two of the natural background radiation everyone receives. A dental CBCT is higher but still a small fraction of a hospital CT scan, which is why we only ask for one when the case needs it.
Do I need a scan for dental veneers?
Usually not. Dental veneers and dental crowns on healthy teeth can be planned from photographs. If your photographs show signs of decay, gum problems or old root canals, we will ask for an OPG so the plan includes any treatment those teeth need first.
How recent does the scan need to be?
Within the last year is ideal. Bone levels and infections change, and a plan built on an old image can be wrong by the time you travel. If your scan is older, we will ask for a new one.
Do I have to book with you after the scan?
No. The £50 is paid to the imaging centre, not to us, and the scan belongs to you. You will receive our plan and quote, and what you do with them is entirely your decision.
What if I live outside the UK?
Tell us where you are. Most countries have private imaging centres that accept a referral from a dentist abroad, and in many of them an OPG can be booked directly. Send whatever you already have and we will advise.
Start With Your Photographs
You do not need the scan to begin. Send your photographs through our free online dental consultation and we will tell you whether a scan is needed, book it if it is, and come back with a fixed quote. If your plan comes to more than £3,250, our all-inclusive Turkey teeth packages cover the hotel and transfers, and the cost of the scan is the only money you spend before you know exactly what your treatment will cost.
Özkan Özkaynak D.D.S., Ph.D. is an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon at Smile Dental Turkey, bringing over two decades of surgical expertise to our team. He earned both his D.D.S. and Ph.D. in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery from Ankara University, and previously served as an Assistant Professor at Karadeniz Teknik Üniversitesi before joining Smile Dental Turkey in 2010.
His surgical expertise covers advanced dental implants, bone grafting, and complex wisdom tooth extractions. He has also contributed to several peer-reviewed journals in his field.
Dr. Özkaynak is a native Turkish speaker with a B2 level of English.
