A real, large operation with a genuinely mixed review record — undercut by a trust claim we couldn't verify and prices you can't see until you hand over your phone number.— CrazyCheck.ai editorial, October 2026
Who is Dentakay
Dentakay is a Turkish dental-tourism chain founded, per its own site, in 2009 by Dr. Gülay Akay, who it names as Founder & Chief Dentist. The legal entity behind it, Dentakay Ağız ve Diş Sağlığı Hizmetleri Ltd. Şti, is independently listed on kariyer.net (a Turkish job platform Dentakay doesn't control) with 550-649 employees — a real headcount that matches the eight locations the site claims: five clinics in Istanbul and one each in Antalya, Ankara (Çayyolu) and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, plus a consultation office in London. The site names 46 individual doctors, each with their own bio page — not a single faceless "our team" page, which is unusual for this sector and a real transparency plus.
One thing we couldn't reconcile: the dentakay.com domain itself was only registered in 2019, about ten years after the claimed 2009 founding. The site's own history timeline shows a 2018 "dedicated international clinic" and 2023 international expansion, so the likeliest explanation is a domestic clinic that rebuilt its web presence for international patients under a new domain — but we found no independent pre-2019 trace of the brand to confirm the 2009 date directly, so we're recording the gap rather than resolving it.
- 550-649 employees, independently listed (kariyer.net) — not just a marketing claim
- 46 individually-named, individually-bio'd doctors
- Domain age (2019) doesn't match the claimed 2009 founding — unreconciled, not disproven
The JCI claim — and a competing claim we found
Dentakay's site runs an entire page on being "one of the few dental clinics accredited by JCI" (Joint Commission International), naming three locations — Nish, Şişli and Antalya — and quoting five named doctors, including founder Dr. Gülay Akay, on what the accreditation process was like. No accreditation date or certificate number appears anywhere on the page.
We tried to check this against JCI's own records. JCI does not publish an easily public-searchable directory of every accredited organization that we could reach this session, so we could not confirm the claim directly.
What we did find, while researching how JCI accreditation normally gets reported in this market: Esnan Dental Clinics, a different Istanbul dental chain, announced in August 2026 — through Dental Tribune, a trade publication, not its own marketing — that it had become "the first private dental clinic in Turkey" to achieve JCI accreditation, received 2 July 2026 under JCI's ambulatory-care programme. That is Esnan's own claim as relayed by a trade outlet, not JCI confirming it either — but it sits in direct tension with Dentakay's own "one of the few" claim. We are not calling either company dishonest. We're telling you that a prominent trust signal on Dentakay's site has a specific, dated, independently-published competing claim next to it, and neither one could be verified from JCI itself this session. If this matters to your decision, ask Dentakay directly for the certificate number and survey date before booking.
- No accreditation date or certificate number disclosed on Dentakay's own JCI page
- A competitor's August 2026 trade-press claim to be 'first in Turkey' directly conflicts with Dentakay's
- Neither claim independently verified against JCI's own records this session
The review record
Dentakay's Trustpilot presence is large and, unlike some audits we've published, genuinely mixed: a 4.3-4.5/5 TrustScore across 1,500 to 2,000+ reviews depending on snapshot, with a 76% five-star / 13% one-star split and the rest in between. That's a healthier-looking signal than a suspiciously perfect score would be, and the company replies to 84% of negative reviews, usually within a month.
But the one-star minority isn't noise. We found a detailed, June 2026 Trustpilot complaint (Russell Jenkinson, a repeat reviewer, not a throwaway account) alleging an incorrectly fitted crown that left him needing implants, nine months unresolved, with the company's only offered remedy — a hotel stay — not covering his flights, food or lost work; he also alleges the company tries to remove negative reviews, which we could not independently confirm or refute. Separately, a 2023-era TripAdvisor forum post describes a strikingly similar failure mode — crowns the poster says were cemented incorrectly, plastic substituted for paid zirconia, and a promised personal consultation with the founder that never happened — though that's one unverified account on an unscreened forum, not independent corroboration. We're not treating either as proof of a pattern; we are noting that the same type of complaint (crown/veneer fit, not matching what was promised) shows up on two different platforms, years apart, against a backdrop of mostly positive, often Trustpilot-verified reviews praising the same staff and logistics.
- Trustpilot: 4.3-4.5/5 across 1,500-2,000+ reviews, 76% five-star / 13% one-star
- Replies to 84% of negative reviews
- Two independent, years-apart complaints describe the same failure mode: crown/veneer fit
Pricing — you have to ask first
We could not find a single published price or price range for any procedure — veneers, crowns, implants, Hollywood Smile — on Dentakay's own procedure and pricing-navigation pages. Every "View Prices" link we followed routes to a lead-capture form that asks for a full name, phone number, and consent to marketing contact by call, SMS, email or WhatsApp before showing any figure.
That's not proof of bait-and-switch pricing, and plenty of legitimate clinics quote per-case because dental work genuinely varies patient to patient. But it does mean you can't comparison-shop from the outside, and it lines up with — without proving — the independent complaints above about price increases and quote disputes. If you're comparing Dentakay against other Istanbul clinics, budget time for a call before you can put a number on it.
- No price or price range published on any page we checked — all gated behind a lead form
- Consistent with, but doesn't prove, the price-related complaints found in the review record
Who should — and should not — use Dentakay
Consider Dentakay if you:
- Want a large, real operation (550+ employees, 8 locations) rather than a small outfit betting everything on one clinic
- Value named, individually-bio'd doctors over a faceless "team" page
- Are comfortable with a review record that's mostly positive but openly shows its minority of serious complaints, rather than one that looks too clean to be real
Do your own extra diligence if you:
- Are relying on the "JCI-accredited" claim as a deciding factor — ask Dentakay directly for the accreditation's certificate number and survey date, and weigh it against the fact we found a competing "first in Turkey" claim from a different clinic that we also couldn't verify
- Want a firm price before committing — get everything in writing, itemized, before you travel, given the independent complaints about price increases
- Are considering a crown, veneer or implant procedure specifically — the complaint pattern we found clusters there, not in general service/logistics
We rate Dentakay Cautious · 66/100 — a real, substantial operation with a credible (because imperfect) review record, held back by an unverifiable headline trust claim and a pricing model that asks you to commit contact information before you see a number.
- A real, large operation — not a thin marketing shell
- Verify the JCI claim and get a firm written price before booking
Notable community threads
76% five-star, 13% one-star, 7% four-star, 2% three-star, 2% two-star across 1,596 reviews; 783 in the last 12 months. A large, genuinely mixed distribution rather than a suspiciously perfect score - itself a point in favour of authenticity. Company replies to 84% of negative reviews, typically within a month.— Dentakay — TrustScore 4.5/5 (4.3 shown on review summary) across ~1,600-2,000+ reviews · trustpilot · positive
Alleges an incorrectly fitted crown that left him needing implants, nine months unresolved as of posting, the company's offered remedy (a hotel stay) not covering flights, food or lost work, and an allegation that the company tries to remove negative reviews. One reviewer's account, not independently corroborated beyond the general pattern below - but not a throwaway account.— 1-star: 'Disgusting dentistry' (Russell Jenkinson, GB, 6 reviews on file) · trustpilot · negative
Describes crowns she says were cemented incorrectly, plastic crowns allegedly substituted for paid zirconia, excessive tooth-shaving with gum damage, a promised personal consultation with the founder that she says never happened, a week with no booked appointments, and a refused ~£10,000 refund. Posted by one reviewer (three times, largely duplicated) roughly three years before this session - one unverified account, not multiple independent ones, and forum posts aren't screened the way Trustpilot's automated system screens reviews.— TripAdvisor Istanbul forum: detailed crown/veneer complaint (user 'Angelica K') · forum · negative
Describes the procedure and service as 'excellent' while reporting a lasting physical side effect (lisp, sunken lips) that staff told him would self-correct and, by the time of posting, hadn't. A more balanced complaint than the 1-star reviews - credits the service while reporting a real, unresolved outcome.— 2-star: permanent lisp and sunken lips (Stephen Gallagher, GB, 8 reviews on file) · trustpilot · mixed