It is hard to scroll through social media without seeing an advert for cheap implants or veneers overseas. The headline prices are real, the airport transfer is included, and the photos look transformative. So why do so many UK dentists urge caution? Dr Ahmed Al-Baiyaa at Atrium Dental in Camberley has had the conversation with patients many times. His position is not a sales pitch — it is a clinical and practical reality about how dentistry, and its aftercare, actually works.

Cheap is not the same as good value

Ahmed is direct about the financial logic patients usually present.

“I don’t think it’s necessary if something’s offering a treatment for cheap, that it’s gonna be straight away the place of choice. If you buy cheap, sometimes you have to pay twice for it.” — Ahmed Al-Baiyaa

That second sentence is the one to underline. Paying twice for it does not just mean financial cost. It can mean weeks of remedial appointments back in the UK, replacement crowns, removal and reinstallation of implants that have failed to integrate, or — in the worst cases — bone grafts and gum surgery to repair damage that was not visible when the patient left the clinic abroad.

Where does the saving actually come from?

If a treatment is sold at a fraction of the UK price, the maths has to work somewhere. Ahmed lays out where the compromise typically sits.

“There is some sort of compromise somewhere in the process, whether it is in the patient journey experience, whether it’s in the materials that are being used, or the qualifications of the dentists that are carrying out the work.” — Ahmed Al-Baiyaa

That is worth sitting with for a moment. The price reduction is not magic — it has to be funded. It is funded by shorter appointments, by less senior clinicians, by cheaper materials, or by skipping steps in the planning and aftercare process that UK-trained dentists consider essential.

For routine work that might be acceptable. For implants and veneers — treatments that are meant to stay in the mouth for decades — the compromise compounds over time.

The aftercare problem

This is the part that most patients do not factor in until it is too late. A dental implant or a set of veneers is not a one-off transaction. It is a long-term piece of clinical work that needs review, maintenance, and occasional repair.

“Most dentists here would not want to be held responsible for treatment that has been carried out elsewhere. Especially if it’s overseas dentistry.” — Ahmed Al-Baiyaa

That is not professional snobbery. It is a question of liability and clinical responsibility. A UK dentist taking over the maintenance of an implant they did not place, with materials they cannot trace, planning records they do not have, and a clinician they cannot contact, is being asked to underwrite work they had no part in.

The result, for the patient, is that finding a UK dentist willing to maintain overseas work can be genuinely difficult. Repairs become piecemeal. Continuity is broken. And the original “saving” disappears in a series of repeat visits.

What good aftercare actually looks like

At Atrium, the relationship does not end when the implant is placed or the veneers are fitted. Ahmed is clear that this is part of the deal.

“Each patient should really know that after the treatment’s being carried out, that they are looked after with us,” he explains. “It’s not like you do everything, and that’s it, off you go. We offer a lot of support in terms of the aftercare, so that’s important to know — that you can return if there is a problem, to know that things can be maintained.”

That continuity matters most precisely when something goes wrong — a chip, a colour change, a sensitivity, a loose crown. Being able to walk back into the practice that did the work, where the planning records and the clinician are still in place, is the difference between a five-minute fix and a multi-month problem.

What patients should actually look for

Ahmed does not argue that UK dentistry is automatically better because it is local — he argues that the things patients should be looking at have nothing to do with country or postcode. They include:

• The clinician’s qualifications and experience — what they trained in, where, and for how long.
• The materials used — top-of-the-range materials cost more for a reason, and longevity is the reason.
• The facility itself — modern, digitally equipped, clearly maintained.
• The patient journey — how the team communicates, follows up, and explains the work.
• The aftercare commitment — what happens when something needs to be maintained or repaired.

“A good dentist should really be able to show patients — to showcase their work, and also show patients in their mouth the stages of the work being carried out,” Ahmed says. Transparency, in other words, is a clinical sign as well as a marketing one.

The patient who has already been abroad

This article is not aimed at anyone who has already had treatment overseas. If you are in that position and worried about something, the answer is to come in and have it looked at. Ahmed and the team will assess what is there honestly, tell you what can and cannot be maintained, and help you make a plan from where you are now. There is no judgment in that conversation.

What Atrium cannot always do is take full ownership of the original work — but they can help you understand it, look after the parts that are sound, and address what is not.

The Camberley alternative: planned, supported, local

For patients in Camberley, Surrey Heath or the wider Surrey area considering implants or veneers, the pitch is not “we are more expensive”. The pitch is that the price is what the work actually costs when nothing is being shortcut — the planning, the materials, the clinician, the time in the chair, and the years of aftercare that follow.

If you would like to compare honestly, the free implant consultation is the place to do it. Ask Ahmed exactly what is included, what materials are used, who is doing the work, and what the aftercare looks like — and weigh that against any quote from elsewhere.

Book a consultation in Camberley

You can read more on the dental implants page, or get in touch through the contact page for a free, no-pressure conversation about what you are weighing up.

MEET

Ahmed Al-Baiyaa

Dentist · BDS Hons Lond 2016 · GDC 265488

Dr Ahmed Al-Baiyaa qualified from Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry in 2016 with Honours, earning distinctions in every undergraduate year, ten prestigious academic awards and a nomination for the University of London Gold Medal. He completed his Foundation Training in the North Central London scheme attached to the Eastman Dental Institute, where he was awarded the Health Education England Best Clinical Case prize. In 2017 he passed the Royal College of Surgeons' Membership exams in Edinburgh.

Ahmed has advanced his communication skills working with dental-phobic children and adults in the Special Care Dentistry Department at King's College Hospital, and is a certified sedation dentist who routinely treats highly anxious patients under sedation. He is particularly drawn to oral surgery, with experience across King's College, St George's and Ashford and St Peter's hospitals, and is responsible for complex surgical extractions — including wisdom teeth — at the practice.

In 2025 he completed his three-year MSc in Implant Dentistry at the Eastman Dental Institute, University College London, where he was named Best Overall Student. He prides himself on being compassionate, empathetic and clear in the way he explains treatment — qualities patients consistently mention in their feedback.