The six criteria
Every destination and every procedure ranking on this site uses the same six criteria. They're weighted differently by procedure — a wisdom tooth extraction cares more about flight access than warranty enforcement, and a full-mouth restoration cares more about warranty enforcement than raw cost — but the criteria themselves are consistent.
01. Procedure Cost
Total cost including materials, sedation, and follow-up visits within the trip.
02. Surgeon Credentialing
Verifiability through national dental registries and specialist certification bodies.
03. Warranty Enforcement
Documented history of warranty claims being honored across borders.
04. English Fluency
Clinical-level English competency of surgeons and support staff in top-3 cities.
05. Flight Access
Direct-flight availability and total travel time from major US hubs.
06. Regulatory Framework
Consumer protection law and post-procedure recourse for foreign patients.
Weighting
Weights are procedure-specific and published on every ranking page. The default weights used for overall destination rankings:
| Criterion | Default Weight | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Procedure Cost | 25% | The reason patients travel in the first place |
| Surgeon Credentialing | 20% | The single strongest predictor of outcome quality |
| Warranty Enforcement | 20% | What happens if something goes wrong is asymmetric — a great outcome is expected, a bad outcome without recourse is catastrophic |
| Flight Access | 15% | Total travel time affects both cost and follow-up feasibility |
| English Fluency | 10% | Reduces friction on informed consent, treatment planning, and complications |
| Regulatory Framework | 10% | Consumer protection law and cross-border recourse |
Sources
Every claim on this site is either verifiable through a public registry, drawn from published clinical literature, or based on quoted 2026 pricing at 3+ independent clinics per destination. We cite:
- National credential registries (ReTHUS, CFEO, TDA, MFE, etc.) for surgeon verification
- WHO World Health Report 2000 for country-level healthcare rankings (still the most-cited baseline)
- JCI (Joint Commission International) for hospital-level accreditation
- Published price surveys and clinic-quoted pricing at 3+ clinics per destination per procedure
- Patient safety reports from country-level dental associations
What we don't do
We don't accept advertising from clinics. We don't take referral commissions from any of the destinations we rank. We don't publish sponsored content. If you see a clinic named on this site, it's because they're publicly verifiable and were selected based on ranking criteria — not because they paid to be named. Our funding comes from patients who use our quote request service, which routes requests to verified clinics.
Editorial process
Rankings are updated quarterly. When we change a score, we note it and explain why. When a country's credentialing standards change, when a major clinic loses accreditation, when new pricing data comes in — those changes flow through to the rankings on the next quarterly update. If you spot an error or have information that should update a ranking, tell us.
Conflict of interest disclosure
The publisher of Best Dental Surgery, Scout Theory LLC, operates a network of medical tourism content sites including colombiamedical.co (a Colombia-focused medical tourism guide). We have an operational interest in Colombia as a destination. That interest is disclosed on every page. It's also why we scored Colombia against the same six criteria we apply to Mexico, Turkey, and every other destination — and why we publish the scores rather than just asserting rankings. When Colombia wins, we show our work. When it doesn't, we show that too.