A 26-year-old restaurant manager who travelled to Turkey for dental treatment ended up paying more than her initial package price and now has one regret: the distance she had to travel.
Shelby appeared on the latest episode of Olivia Attwood: The Price of Perfection, which aired on August 11. The show focused on people who travel to Turkey for cosmetic procedures, including Olivia's friend and former The Only Way Is Essex co-star Bobby Norris.
Shelby told Olivia she thought she was getting porcelain veneers but was actually receiving zirconia crowns. Olivia noted that around 250,000 foreign patients reportedly travel to Turkey for dental work each year.
Costs and Complications
Shelby paid an initial cost of £5,970 for a package that included flights, hotels, treatment and transport. However, the price increased when she needed additional work: eight root canals.
She described the experience: "That (amount) was a package - flight, hotels, treatment and transport. But then when I got here, it went up because I needed an extra bit of dental work. I needed eight root canals. I could feel the smoke coming off the teeth when they were burning the nerve off to kill it."
Shelby said that having similar work done in the UK would have cost around £9,000 and taken up to two years to complete.
Reasoning and Regret
Olivia emphasised that a root canal is typically only carried out if a tooth is decayed or rotten. She also mentioned that the British Dental Association states it should only be undertaken if there is a clinical necessity.
When questioned, the dentist suggested the root canals were needed because Shelby had 'crowded teeth' and, due to her age, she would have larger nerves in her teeth, which might cause discomfort during the procedure.
A disclaimer at the end of the episode disclosed that two months after Shelby had 24 crowns fitted, she 'loves her Turkey teeth'. However, she had one regret: how far she had to travel to get them done.
Olivia Attwood: The Price of Perfection airs Tuesdays at 9pm on ITV2 and is streaming on ITVX.
