The ten questions patients ask in the first email

Every clinic that treats foreign patients receives the same first message, written a hundred different ways. It usually contains one question about money, one about time, and one unspoken question about whether the person on the other end is trustworthy. This post answers the ten that actually arrive, in the words we would use in a reply, so you can see how the correspondence will feel before you start it.

It is also a practical document. Half of what slows a first exchange down is that the answer depends on something the clinic does not have yet, and knowing that in advance saves you a week.

What arrives	What can be answered from it
“How much for an implant?” with nothing attached	A list price, and an honest warning that your mouth may need more than one line
A price question with a panoramic X-ray	A written plan, tooth by tooth, with a total
A photograph of a smile	Colour, shape, wear and gum position. Nothing about bone
Another clinic’s quote	A line-by-line reading of what it includes and omits
“How much to do all my teeth?”	Three questions back, because four different routes have four different prices

The ten questions, in the order they arrive

1. How much will my case cost?

We can give you a list price immediately and a real total within 24 hours. The difference matters: the list price of an implant with its crown is 450–650 euro, and your total depends on how many teeth, whether any need bone work first, and whether anything can be saved rather than replaced. Nobody can answer the second version from a sentence. Send the X-ray and you get the second version. Every price is published rather than quoted per patient, on the dental prices page.

2. Can it be done while I am there in March?

Depends entirely on the treatment. Crowns, veneers, root canal work, extractions and whitening all finish inside one week. Implants need months of healing between the surgery and the final crown, so a March trip usually places them and a later trip finishes them. Tell us the month and how many days you have, and the plan is written to fit real dates rather than optimistic ones.

3. Do I really have to come twice?

For implants, almost always, and the reason is biology rather than commerce: bone has to grow onto the fixture before it carries a tooth. What we can do is make the two trips short and put them where they suit you. What we will not do is compress a two-stage treatment into one week because it sounds better in an e-mail.

4. Who will actually treat me?

The dentist who will treat you, from the first review of your X-ray to the final fitting. This question is worth asking every clinic you write to, because in high-volume practices the surgeon, the prosthetic dentist and the person answering your e-mails are three different people, and none of them owns the outcome. Ask who will treat you, ask whether that same person does the surgery and the final fitting, and ask to speak to them before you book. Notice how long each answer takes to arrive.

5. Do you speak my language?

Consultations are held in Albanian, English, Italian and Spanish, and your plan, your consent form and your aftercare instructions are written in your own language rather than translated at the chair by somebody pointing. If you would rather talk than write, say so and it is arranged.

6. How and when do I pay?

The plan is free and nothing is due to receive it. 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.

7. What happens if I do not like the result?

Ask this before treatment, not after, and ask it of everyone. For crowns and veneers the answer is structural rather than reassuring: the shade and shape are approved at a try-in stage, while the work is still adjustable, and the laboratory is in Tirana so a remake happens during your stay rather than at your next trip. For anything surgical, the guarantee document covers failure rather than preference, and the honest version is that expectations are managed by planning them, not by promising afterwards.

8. How do I know the clinic and the dentist are licensed?

Ask for the clinic licence in writing, and ask whether the dentist who will treat you is registered with the national order of dentists. We answer both on request without making a conversation of it. The useful part of this question is comparative: send it to four clinics and the speed and completeness of the replies will tell you more than any of the replies themselves.

9. Can you book my hotel and collect me from the airport?

We do not sell travel, and we would rather explain why than sound unhelpful: a single figure that mixes dentistry with hotel nights is a figure you cannot audit, and that is exactly the format this clinic exists to avoid. What we do is tell you which areas are ten minutes from the door, how long the drive from the airport takes and what a taxi should cost, and build your appointment days so the trip works.

10. I have a quote from another clinic. Will you beat it?

No, and that is deliberate. What we will do is read it line by line and tell you what it includes, what it leaves out and what the same treatment costs here from the published list. Frequently the two documents are not describing the same treatment at all, which is more useful to know than a discount. That service has its own page: a second opinion on your quote.

What we need back from you

Four things, and the first one does most of the work.

** Your own dentist will normally give you the file if you ask; a clear photograph of it on a screen is usually enough to plan from.

** A relaxed smile, a wide smile, and the upper teeth with the lips held back. Daylight, no flash, and nobody is judging the photography.

** “I want to be able to eat on the left” and “I want the front four to look even” lead to two different plans, and the second is not a smaller version of the first.

** The budget is not a negotiating position. Several clinically valid routes usually exist, and knowing your range decides which one gets planned first rather than which gets discounted.

What the plan that comes back contains, and when the price becomes fixed, is set out on how your quote works.

What we will not do once you have written

We will not chase you. One reply, and then an answer whenever you come back to it, whether that is on Thursday or in eight months. There is no sequence of reminder e-mails, no offer that expires and no message telling you the price rises next week.

We will not send a figure we cannot stand behind in order to get you into a conversation. If your case needs an X-ray before it can be priced properly, the reply will say so and give you a range rather than inventing a total.

And we will not answer a medical question with marketing. If the honest answer is that something is not worth doing, or should be done by a dentist near you, or needs to wait for a medical reason, that is what the reply says.

FAQ

How long does a first reply take?

A short question asked by WhatsApp or e-mail is usually answered the same working day. A written plan built from an X-ray takes 24 hours, because it is read and written by the dentist rather than assembled from a template. If you have sent something and heard nothing after three working days, send it again: the commonest cause is an attachment that did not arrive.

Can I just turn up in Tirana without writing first?

You can, and for a crown, a whitening or a problem tooth it is perfectly reasonable. For implants it wastes the trip: the plan depends on a scan and a discussion, and the surgery itself is better done on a day you have been prepared for. If you are already in the city, write in the morning and we will tell you what can realistically happen this week.

Do I have to give my medical history in the first email?

Not all of it, but the parts that change the plan are worth sending early: diabetes, blood thinners, bone medication for osteoporosis, any treatment that affects your immune system, and whether you smoke. Finding out about one of those at the planning stage changes a sequence. Finding out about it on the surgical morning changes the appointment.

Will I be talking to the dentist or to a coordinator?

To the dentist for anything clinical. Appointment times, directions and paperwork are handled by reception, which is normal and sensible, but the reading of your X-ray, the plan, and any question about what will be done to your teeth is answered by the dentist who will treat you. If a reply about your treatment ever reads as though nobody clinical wrote it, say so and it will be answered again properly.

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