What questions should be put to a clinic before booking treatment abroad?
The questions that protect someone about to have their teeth treated elsewhere are few, and always the same: who the establishment is, who the practitioner is, what materials go into the mouth, and what is left in writing. Here is the list, and the reason for each line. Every answer should be requested in writing.
In writing, or it is no use
A list of questions is only worth something if the answers come back in writing. Spoken aloud, everything sounds right and nothing remains. In writing, whoever answers thinks twice, and whoever asks keeps a document to hold up later against what actually happened.
A few written lines are enough. No formal language, no lawyer: simply list the questions and ask for an answer in the same place. How quickly and how carefully the reply comes already tells you something, before you even read what it says.
Number the questions and leave a space under each one. The answer comes back lined up with the question, and it is easy to see which one went unanswered. Those are usually the ones that mattered most.
Block 1 — the establishment
The legal name of the entity and its company tax number. The registration number of the establishment where the treatment will take place, and the number of its operating licence. The exact address, postcode included. And the type of care for which that licence was granted.
These answers exist and they are public. For the Instituto AreLuna, the establishment where dental care is provided is the one at Rua de Júlio Dinis, 194, 4050-327 Porto, with registration number 161637 and licence 21593. A clinic that hesitates to give this is already answering the next question.
Block 2 — the practitioner
Who will carry out the surgery, full name. What their professional licence (cédula) number is and which professional body issued it. If a specialty is claimed, under which registration. And who follows the case afterwards, if the person who operated is not available.
The clinical director of the Instituto AreLuna is Dr. Leonardo Costa Saraiva de Oliveira, professional licence (cédula) 11846, Ordem dos Médicos Dentistas — the Portuguese professional body for dentists. A cédula number exists to be checked against the professional body’s public list, not to look good in a brochure.
Blocks 3 and 4 — the materials and the documents
Which brand, which reference and which batch number of implant will be placed, and whether these details are given to the patient at the end. The scope of the warranty, how long it lasts, and what makes it lapse. What is included in the amount and what is left out. The number of trips planned, and the rule if one more is needed.
The Instituto AreLuna states that it uses Neodent by Straumann implants, a brand of the Swiss Straumann group. Seeing that confirmed on the quote, with the system reference, is not the same as reading it on a web page.
For anyone insured with the CNS — the Caisse nationale de santé, Luxembourg’s national health insurance fund — add one line to this block: in what form the quote is drawn up, and whether it carries the nomenclature codes. The Instituto AreLuna states that it prepares the quote in French with those codes. Exactly what the fund expects, and when, should be confirmed with it before treatment begins.
The request not to make
There is one question better not asked: demanding a fixed treatment plan before anyone has seen the scans. No clinic can provide one, because every procedure depends on a prior individual assessment and diagnosis. A quick, definitive answer to that question is a warning sign in itself.
The same goes for an amount presented as final without a consultation or an X-ray. A starting amount is honest and useful for comparison; a final amount before a diagnosis is neither honest nor comparable.
And there is one sign that says a great deal: a reply that presses for the decision to be made quickly. A health decision does not expire after a week, and an appointment that only stands if it is confirmed today says more about whoever is proposing it than about the treatment.
Frequently asked questions
How many questions in total?
Four blocks: the establishment, the practitioner, the materials, the documents. Two or three questions per block are enough. The number matters little; the written form of the answer matters a lot.
And if the clinic answers everything?
Then there is a document to keep and to compare with the quote and the plan. Answering is the minimum; the next step is to check the numbers in the public registers.
Won’t this hold up the booking?
Generally not. The details requested are public or already in the file, and the time spent getting them is short compared with what is decided straight afterwards.