Dental treatment in Georgia: implants, prosthetics, planning your visits and the guarantee

What does dental treatment look like for an international patient?

As a rule, a dental patient does not stay overnight at the clinic: a visit lasts a few hours and you return to your hotel. The difficulty lies elsewhere. Simple treatment, such as a filling or root canal treatment, is often completed in one trip, but implants and extensive prosthetic work are divided into stages, and the tissue needs to heal between them. It is these stages that shape your travel plan.

A dentist may have several options for solving the same problem: an implant or a bridge, a removable or a fixed prosthesis, individual crowns or a full reconstruction. Which one suits you is decided by the dentist on the basis of the examination, the scans and your general health. We neither choose the option nor recommend a particular implant manufacturer.

Why do implants and prosthetics need several visits?

Implants

An implant is an artificial root placed in the bone, to which a crown or prosthesis is later attached. A typical plan has several steps: an examination and a three-dimensional scan of the jaw, tooth extraction or bone grafting if needed, placement of the implant, a healing period and, finally, making the permanent crown or prosthesis. In some cases the dentist fits a temporary tooth at the same visit, in others not; this is a medical decision that depends on the condition of your bone.

Prosthetics

Crowns, bridges and dentures are made in a laboratory. The dentist prepares the tooth, takes an impression or a digital scan and then, often, schedules a separate fitting visit before fixing the restoration permanently. If many teeth are to be treated on one trip, the schedule of daily visits becomes tighter as well.

What this means for your travel

Before you buy a ticket, ask the clinic to set out in writing how many trips are planned, what is done on each, how many days you will need on site and after which stage you can go home. On the basis of this information, your coordinator brings the visits, transfers and accommodation together into one schedule.

What should you send the clinic to get a quote?

A dental quote is shaped by the scans, so their quality matters a great deal. The more complete your file, the fewer surprises there will be in the plan you receive on site.

• A panoramic X-ray or a CT scan of the jaw. If you have a recent one, send it in the original digital format (DICOM), not just as a photo of a screen.
• Photos of your mouth. The clinic will tell you which angles and how many images it needs.
• Records of previous treatment. If you already have implants, their manufacturer and system, as well as a description of your most recent treatment.
• Your general health. Chronic conditions, allergies and a full list of medicines, especially any that affect blood clotting or bone. The dentist will assess their significance.
• Your goal. Briefly describe what is troubling you and what result you expect; it helps if your own dentist has already proposed a plan.

If your records are in a language the Georgian dentist does not read, we translate them through our imaging and diagnostic report translation service. We send records only to the clinics whose names you have confirmed in writing; how the selection works is explained on the Choosing a clinic page.

How do you read a dental quote?

We do not quote prices: they depend on the clinic, the materials and what the dentist finds at the examination. You can, however, only compare two quotes when both are broken down in the same way. We ask clinics to state the price per tooth or per item.

The quote should also state the currency, how long it is valid, the terms of any advance payment and what may change after the examination. The Law of Georgia on Patient Rights entitles you to information about a service and its cost, so asking for an itemised quote is an ordinary request. You pay the clinic's invoice directly to the clinic; our fee is separate. The overall cost structure is set out in the Costs and payment guide.

What should you ask the clinic about the guarantee before you sign?

The word "guarantee" means different things at different clinics, and what matters most for an international patient is how it works once you are already in another country. We put these questions to the clinic in writing and send you the answers in your language:

1. What it covers

   Whether the guarantee applies to the implant itself, the crown or prosthesis, the dentist's work, or only one of these, and for how long.

2. On what conditions

   Whether the clinic requires regular check-ups and whether these can take place in your country, with documentary proof.

3. What happens if there is a problem

   Who decides whether the case is covered by the guarantee, whether you have to come back, and who pays for the trip and accommodation in that event.

4. Whether your dentist at home can step in

   Whether the guarantee remains valid if a necessary repair is carried out by your own dentist at home.

5. How it is documented

   The guarantee should be set out in the contract or in a separate document, in a language you understand or with a translation; a verbal promise is not enough.

A guarantee is no substitute for good documentation. Ask for a card or an extract recording the manufacturer, system and size of each implant and, if the clinic issues it, the batch number, together with the scans taken after treatment. Without these details, another dentist sometimes struggles to find the right part for the implant.

How do you continue your care after returning home?

Dental treatment does not end on the day you leave: the tissue is still healing, and you need time to get used to a prosthesis or crown. Before you leave, check that you have:

• written instructions on care, diet and hygiene, in a language you understand;
• a list of the medicines prescribed, with the active ingredient and dose, and a prescription where needed;
• a description of the treatment carried out, the implant details and the final scans;
• a contact person at the clinic to write to if you have a question or a problem, and the language in which they will reply.

You request a copy of your records from the clinic in writing, and by law it must be provided within ten working days, so do not leave this until your last day. We translate the records for your dentist; what a doctor at home needs is described on our Documents for home service page. Up to ten packs of ordinary medicines can be taken across the border without documents, while larger quantities and controlled medicines are subject to different rules, explained on our medicines service page.

If something troubles you once you are home, first write to the Georgian clinic with a photo and a description, but if you have acute pain, swelling or a fever, go to a local dentist or the emergency services immediately, without waiting for the guarantee question to be settled.

How do you check the clinic and the dentist?

In Georgia, a permit is required above all for inpatient facilities, that is, hospitals, while certain medical activities require a separate licence. For an outpatient dental clinic, the key document is often the dentist's: the Law of Georgia on Medical Practice requires a state certificate for independent medical practice. So we ask the clinic for copies of its registration documents and of its permit documents, if its activity requires them, as well as for the name and certificate details of the treating dentist.

We have not been able to find a public online register in which a patient could check this themselves, so we request and check the documents ourselves. We treat a clinic's claims about international certificates or awards as its own statements. Further criteria are in our How to choose a clinic guide.

Visa, insurance and language

A dental trip is usually short, but the number of visits makes the entry rules more important: if you enter on an e-visa, you need to check its validity separately for each trip. The rules for your citizenship are confirmed through our visa and invitation service.

Since 2026, every time you come to Georgia you need a health and accident policy for the entire stay, with cover of at least GEL 30,000, in Georgian or English. Such a policy does not usually cover planned dental treatment; the details are in our insurance guide. You can often speak to the dentist in English or Russian; for other languages we arrange a medical interpreter, especially for going through the consent form and the guarantee terms.

Frequently asked questions about dental treatment in Georgia