How to check any Vietnam clinic yourself.
Send the clinic eight questions before you send it anything else. A clinic that answers all eight in writing, with documents attached, is a clinic worth a conversation. A clinic that answers three and changes the subject has told you what you needed to know for free.
This list is the same one we use. Take it even if you never call us.
The email to send, before you send anything else
Do not lead with your X-rays and your budget. Lead with the paperwork request. How a clinic handles this email is data, and it costs you nothing to collect.
- Can you send a copy of your operating licence from the Department of Health, and confirm the trading name and address it covers?
- Which dentist would treat me, and can you send their practising registration? If a second dentist would place the implants, theirs as well.
- How many cases like mine has that dentist done, and can you show examples of that specific procedure?
- Which laboratory makes the crowns, bridges or arches, and can you send its name and certification?
- Which implant system or material brand would you use, and can you show proof of supply rather than the logo?
- Can you send your written price list, and an itemised written plan before anything starts?
- What is the warranty: how many years, what is covered, what is excluded, and how is a claim made?
- What are your sterilisation and instrument tracking procedures, and can I see the autoclave records?
Those eight cover the parts of our audit that a patient can run remotely. The other 13 checks need someone standing in the building, which is the part we do.
What a good answer looks like
| Question | A good answer | A bad answer |
|---|---|---|
| The licence | A scanned document, with the name and address matching what you were told. | "We are fully licensed and internationally certified." No document. |
| The dentist | A named person, their registration, and cases for your procedure. | "All our doctors are highly experienced." No name. |
| The lab | A lab name you can search, and its certification. | "We use a high quality German lab." No name. |
| The brand | The system named in writing, with supply documentation. | A brand named verbally, then a cheaper one in the plan. |
| The warranty | Years, coverage, exclusions and the claim process, in a document. | "Lifetime warranty." No terms, no exclusions, no process. |
| Sterilisation | A described protocol and records they are willing to show. | Offence at the question. |
A clinic that will not show a licence, a lab or an autoclave log does not get a second conversation from us either.
Then read the quote, not the total
The total is the least informative line on a dental quote. Read for these instead, and compare two quotes side by side rather than one against your hopes.
- The brand of every implant, crown or veneer material, named
- The laboratory
- Every appointment, across both trips, with the gap between them
- The warranty terms, in the quote itself and not in a separate marketing page
- What is excluded: extractions, bone grafting, sinus lift, temporaries, imaging on arrival
A low total with a long exclusion list underneath is not a low price. This is the single most common way an overseas dental quote goes wrong, and it is entirely visible before you fly.
On the video call, ask to see three things
Most clinics that treat international patients will do a video call. Ask them to walk you through the building rather than sit at a desk.
- The sterilisation room. You are not inspecting it. You are watching whether the request is normal or awkward.
- The imaging equipment. On site 3D imaging and digital scanning, in use rather than in a brochure.
- The treating dentist. Ask them to explain your plan, the material choice and the aftercare instruction in plain English. If that has to go through three people, that is your answer about the day itself.
When to walk away
- A deposit of 20 to 50 percent demanded before you have met anyone
- A price agreed in the chair rather than in writing beforehand
- Any suggestion of a special price for you, or a discount that expires
- A brand or material that changes between the conversation and the plan
- A warranty you cannot read, or one with no exclusions listed at all
- Aftercare that has no named person attached to it
If you would rather not run any of this yourself, that is the entire reason Dental Link exists, and it costs you nothing.
What people ask about checking a clinic.
Will a clinic be offended if I ask for all this?
A clinic that treats international patients regularly will not be, because it is asked constantly. The reaction is itself the test. We ask for all of it, in writing, before any clinic is sent a patient, and the ones worth using send it back without drama.
Can I check a Vietnamese licence from home?
You can ask for the document and check that the trading name and the address on it match what you were told, which catches most of what matters. Verifying it against the register itself is the part that is easier from inside Vietnam, and it is one of the things we do in person, along with re-checking it every year.
Is a lot of good reviews enough?
Reviews tell you about the experience, which is worth knowing. They do not tell you about sterilisation records, instrument tracking, the supply chain behind a brand name, or complication and remake rates. Those come from documents and outcome data, which is why our audit asks for both.
What if I have already paid a deposit somewhere?
That is a conversation with that clinic, not with us, and we would not tell you what to do about it. What we can say is that no deposit is ever required through Dental Link. No deposits, ever. Your dates are held with the clinic without one and you pay the clinic in person for work you have agreed to.
Or hand the whole list to someone who lives there.
We run all 21 checks before a clinic is ever sent a patient, and re-run them every year. Ten minutes on the phone and you get two clinics that already passed, with written quotes and a walk through video of each.
