Dental treatment abroad in Albania: 25 questions, answered

Twenty-five questions we are actually asked about dental treatment abroad in Albania, grouped so you can skip to the part you care about. Every figure here is from the published dental prices list, and nothing in these answers is a promise about your own case: only a plan written against your own scan can be that.

Before you travel

What do you need from me before you can quote?

Three photographs and one X-ray. A front-on smiling photograph, one of each side with your lips held back, taken on a phone by a window. Then a panoramic X-ray from the last year, or a CBCT scan if you already have one. If you are holding a quote from another dentist, send that too, unpriced sections included. With those four things a plan can be written; without the X-ray, anything we sent you would be a guess dressed as a document.

How long does the written plan take?

24 hours from the point we have everything we need. If your images are unreadable or a tooth in question is out of frame, we ask once for a better photograph, which adds a day. Complicated full-mouth cases are sometimes held a further day because the sequencing genuinely takes longer to plan than the surgery takes to do.

Does a plan cost anything?

No. Nothing is charged until treatment begins, so the only thing you risk by asking is the time it takes to photograph your own teeth.

Do I need a visa for Albania?

Citizens of the EU, the UK, the US, Canada and Australia do not need a visa for a stay of under 90 days. A valid passport, or a national identity card for EU citizens, is enough. Albania is in the same time zone as Italy and Spain, which makes rebooking appointments and follow-up calls straightforward.

Should I book flights before or after the plan?

After, always. The plan tells you how many days you need and how many trips, and those two numbers change the cost of the flights far more than a fare comparison does. We hold your appointments for seven days once you pick a window, which is enough time to book calmly.

Prices and payment

Are the published prices the prices I will pay?

Yes, applied to your own mouth. Where the list shows a range, your written plan converts it to a single number and that number is fixed. Two clinical items can be added, both named in advance with their price: bone grafting at 200–400 euro and a sinus lift at 500–800 euro. No administration fee, no coordinator fee and no charge for the CBCT exists here.

What currency, and can I pay by card?

Everything is quoted in euro and euro cash is accepted.

Is there a deposit?

Payment is in stages aligned with the treatment plan: for implant cases that need two visits, the surgical phase is paid on the first visit and the restoration on the second. Cash, credit cards and bank transfers are accepted.

Why is the same work cheaper here than at home?

Because most of a dental price is labour and laboratory time, and both cost less in Tirana than in London, Dublin or Milan. The parts that are bought on a world market, the titanium fixture, the zirconia disc, the bonding materials, cost roughly the same here as anywhere. That is also why the saving is large on implants and crowns and small on materials-heavy items.

Are there costs that are not on the price list?

Accommodation and flights are arranged separately; we can recommend nearby partner hotels at discounted rates. Medication you take home. A night guard, where it is not already part of a veneer case. Everything clinical is on the list, and if you are ever quoted a line that is not, ask what it is and why it exists.

The treatments

What do you do, and what do you not do?

Implants including All-on-4 and All-on-6, full-mouth rehabilitation, bone grafting and sinus lifts, zirconia and E-max crowns, veneers and smile design, bridges, dentures, root canals, extractions including wisdom teeth, and whitening. We do not offer orthodontics, aligners or braces of any kind, and we will refer you to a colleague in Tirana if that is what you need.

Which implant systems do you use?

Straumann BLT at 800 euro and Nobel Biocare at 700 euro, plus an unbranded system from 300–450 euro that we use as standard where the case allows. Whichever is placed, the manufacturer, the reference and the lot number go into your record and onto the document you take home, so a dentist anywhere can order a matching component years later.

Will you tell me if a tooth can be saved instead of replaced?

Yes, and it is the commonest way our plan differs from the quote a patient arrives with. A root canal and crown at 200–350 euro is cheaper for you and better for your jaw than an extraction and an implant, so where a tooth is sound enough the plan saves it. Where it is not, the plan says why in a sentence you can check with your own dentist.

Can everything be done in one trip?

Crowns, veneers, root canals, extractions and whitening, yes. Implants, almost never, because the fixture needs three to six months in bone before it carries a crown. A plan that puts implant placement and a final crown in the same week is either describing a temporary or loading the implant earlier than most protocols support. Whether your own bone allows any shortcut is the sort of thing covered on whether you are a candidate for implants.

Are the crowns and veneers made here?

They are made in a dental laboratory in Tirana, which is why a set of crowns can be designed, made, tried in and fitted inside one working week without anything being posted abroad. It also means a shade you are not happy with can be remade while you are still in the city rather than at your next trip.

The visit itself

How many days will I need?

Two to three days for a single implant placement and the same again for the second trip; five to seven days for a full arch on four implants, then four to five months later; three to five days for veneers; four to five for crowns; two for a root canal with its crown. The whole trip, stage by stage, is set out on your visit to Tirana.

Will it hurt, and what anaesthetic is used?

Treatment is carried out under local anaesthetic, the same injections you have had at home, and the surgery itself is not painful. Afterwards there is soreness and swelling for two to four days for implant work and rather less for prosthetic work. You are given written instructions and a prescription, and the honest summary is that implant surgery is uncomfortable for a few days rather than dreadful for one.

What if my flight is delayed and I miss an appointment?

Tell us as soon as you know and the appointment moves. This is exactly why we ask you to arrive the day before your first appointment rather than the same morning. A surgical slot lost to a delay usually costs a day of your trip; a surgical slot lost on the last day of your trip costs you the trip.

Will I manage in Tirana without speaking Albanian?

Yes. The city centre runs on English in most restaurants, taxis and hotels, and consultations here are held in Albanian, English, Italian and Spanish.

Can I bring someone to my appointments?

Yes, and for surgical appointments it is a good idea. Someone who heard the same post-operative instructions you did, while you are numb and tired, is worth more than any leaflet. They can sit in the surgery for consultations and fittings, and in the waiting area during surgery.

After you go home

Who do I speak to if something changes?

The dentist who will treat you, on WhatsApp at +355 69 691 1118, with a photograph and one sentence. Messages are read by the dentist who treated you, not by a coordinator relaying them. Out of hours you will not always get an immediate reply; for anything urgent, see a doctor where you are first and message us second.

What if I need a small repair where I live?

We will write to your own dentist with the plan, the components and the lot numbers so they can act without guessing, and a recemented temporary or an adjusted contact point is a ten-minute job for them.

Do I have to return for check-ups?

Not to Tirana, in most cases. Remote reviews by photograph are scheduled at the points in healing where a problem would show, and your annual check-up and cleaning can be done by any dentist. Keeping those appointments is one of the conditions of the written guarantee, so keep the receipts.

Safety and guarantees

What does the guarantee cover?

5 years on the implant fixture and 5 years on crowns, veneers and bridges, set out in a document you take home rather than a sentence on a website. The conditions, the check-ups, hygiene and wearing a night guard if you grind, are on the implant guarantee and aftercare, and they are conditions rather than small print.

How do I check the clinic and the dentist are licensed?

Ask us in writing for the clinic licence, and ask whether the dentist who will treat you is registered with the Albanian Order of Dentists. Any clinic worth treating you at answers both without hesitating. We would also suggest asking the same question of every other clinic you are considering, and noticing how long each takes to answer.

What happens if an implant fails?

Early failure, where a fixture does not integrate in the first months, is the situation the guarantee exists for: the fixture is replaced and the surgery is not charged again. Late failure years later is usually driven by gum health, smoking or grinding, and the document says plainly which of those voids what. Nobody can promise an implant will never fail; what a clinic can promise is a written rule about who pays.

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