What if something goes wrong after dental treatment in Vietnam?

This is the page you hoped you would never need. If you are reading it at two in the morning because something does not feel right with your teeth, you are in the right place. Work through it methodically — the answer to what you should do next is here.

First: triage by severity

Not all complications are equal. The first step is honest assessment of how serious your situation is, because that determines who you contact and how quickly.

Level 1 — Emergency: act now

These situations require immediate emergency care. Do not wait until morning. Do not message Picasso first.

• Spreading facial swelling that has crossed the jaw line, is moving toward your eye socket, or is affecting your ability to swallow or open your mouth
• Difficulty breathing related to swelling in the throat or floor of the mouth
• Uncontrolled bleeding from a surgical site that has not responded to 20 minutes of firm, continuous pressure
• High fever (above 38.5 °C) combined with facial swelling, confusion, or rapidly worsening pain
• Chest pain, difficulty breathing, or leg pain and swelling on one side after long-haul travel (possible deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism)

Action sequence: Call 111 immediately. Go to your nearest hospital emergency department. After you have contacted emergency services, notify Picasso at [email protected] — but emergency services come first. Take any medication lists and your treatment summary with you.

Spreading dental infection can progress to Ludwig’s angina or sepsis within hours. These are life-threatening. The barrier to calling 111 should be low.

Level 2 — Urgent dental: same-day action

These situations are not life-threatening but require dental attention within 24 hours and same-day contact with Picasso.

• Severe or escalating pain at a treated site, especially if over-the-counter pain relief is not controlling it
• An implant that feels loose or is moving — any mobility in a fixture that was stable before is significant
• Bleeding at a surgical site on day three or later (beyond the expected oozing of the first 24 hours)
• A temporary crown that has come off, exposing the prepared tooth underneath
• Signs of dry socket after an extraction — this presents as a deep, throbbing ache that starts 2–4 days post-extraction, often with an unpleasant taste or smell from the socket
• A definitive crown or bridge that feels grossly off in bite and is causing pain when biting

Action sequence: Contact a New Zealand dentist and book an appointment for the same day or next morning — explain that it is a post-operative dental complication. At the same time — not instead — email Picasso at [email protected] with your booking ID, a description of the symptoms, and the date they started. Take photographs if the issue is visible. Do not attempt home repairs with superglue or hardware-store adhesives.

Level 3 — Non-urgent: coordinate within two weeks

These situations are worth monitoring and documenting, but do not require emergency action.

• A small chip on the edge of a veneer, with no exposed preparation and no sharp edge cutting the tongue
• Mild, intermittent sensitivity to cold or sweet foods, improving over time
• A cosmetic concern about shade — the result looks different at home than it did under clinic lighting
• A question about whether something is normal during the adjustment period

Action sequence: Take clear photographs in good natural light. Send them to your Picasso coordinator or email ([email protected]) with a description of when you noticed it and whether it is changing. Book a New Zealand dental review within two weeks — not as an emergency but to have a baseline assessment and professional opinion in your records. Do not let a non-dental business (a beautician, pharmacy, or online service) work on your ceramics.

The first 72 hours at home — step by step

The 72-hour window after you land in New Zealand is when most post-travel complications either declare themselves or begin to resolve. Here is what to do:

1. Photograph everything that concerns you on day one, in good natural lighting. Front view, left, right, and bite view if relevant. This establishes a baseline that is timestamped.
2. Write down your symptoms with the date and time they started. Pain level out of ten, location, what makes it better or worse, and whether it is changing. This information is what your New Zealand dentist and Picasso both need.
3. Contact your Picasso coordinator on day one — not because there is necessarily a problem, but to check in. Send your photos and symptom notes. You will get a clinical response, not a template reply.
4. Open a warranty review if applicable at /warranty/. Do this before any outside repair is undertaken — having repair work done by a third party without Picasso’s knowledge can complicate a warranty claim.
5. Do not eat hard, crunchy, or sticky foods on any treated side until you have clinical confirmation that your restorations are stable.
6. Take any prescribed antibiotics or pain relief exactly as directed — completing the antibiotic course even if you feel better is important to prevent resistant infection.
7. Rest and hydrate. Jet lag impairs healing. A disturbed sleep schedule after a long flight is normal; try to align with New Zealand time as quickly as possible and prioritise sleep for the first few nights.

How the Picasso warranty claim works

The SmileCare warranty claims process is managed by your coordinator and has the following stages:

Step 1 — Documentation. You submit photographs, a symptom timeline, and your booking ID to your coordinator by email at [email protected]. Include the date of your treatment, what was done, and when the problem started.

Step 2 — Remote clinical review. The Picasso clinical team reviews your documentation. For implant-related concerns, this may include requesting X-rays taken by your New Zealand dentist. For cosmetic concerns, it may involve a video consultation to assess shade or morphology in real-world lighting.

Step 3 — Classification. The clinical team determines whether the issue is covered under warranty, outside warranty scope (for example, due to trauma or failure to follow aftercare instructions), or requires in-person examination before a determination can be made.

Step 4 — Remedy. If warranty-covered, the approved remedy may be: remote guidance that resolves the issue, an authorised repair carried out by your New Zealand dentist at Picasso’s cost, or a return visit to Vietnam. Whether return-visit support (including flight assistance) applies depends on your specific SmileCare tier and the nature of the complication — this is confirmed in writing before you book travel.

Full warranty terms are at /warranty/.

Your New Zealand dentist’s role — what to bring them

Your New Zealand dentist is a critical part of your post-treatment support network. Most dentists are willing to help patients manage complications from overseas work, but they need the right records to do so effectively. Bring the following to every appointment related to your overseas treatment:

• OPG or CBCT images from Vietnam. These show the bone level, root positions, and implant placement angles at the time of treatment. Without them, your NZ dentist is working without a baseline.
• Implant passport. This is the document Picasso provides for every implant placed — it lists the brand (for example, Nobel Biocare or Straumann BLX), model, lot number, and date of placement. The lot number is essential if the implant ever needs a replacement component — implant systems are not interchangeable.
• Prosthetic spec sheet. For crowns and veneers, this documents the shade (for example, A2 Vita Classical), the material (Emax, Lava Plus), the lab that fabricated them, and the luting cement used. A dentist attempting to re-cement or match a replacement needs this information.
• Warranty registration number. Confirms that your SmileCare warranty is active and allows your NZ dentist to correspond with Picasso if needed.
• Full treatment summary. The written summary of what was done, in what sequence, and with what materials — equivalent to a clinical letter.
• Shade record. Particularly important for cosmetic work. If a replacement restoration is ever needed, matching the shade without this record is guesswork.

Keep printed copies of all of these in a folder at home, not only on your phone.

What your NZ dentist can and cannot do

Understanding the scope of what your local dentist can help with prevents misunderstandings and avoids complications from repairs that exceed what they can safely manage.

Your NZ dentist can:

• Re-cement a loose veneer if the veneer is intact, the preparation is undamaged, and the correct cement is available — always inform Picasso before this is done, as the cement type affects the bond strength and any future warranty.
• Prescribe antibiotics for a suspected dental infection while a warranty claim is being assessed — this is appropriate urgent management and should not be delayed.
• Take new X-rays and share them with Picasso digitally — this is often the most useful thing they can do for a remote clinical review.
• Smooth a minor chip on a veneer edge to remove sharpness, without adhesive or drilling.
• Provide pain management, including local anaesthetic if needed for examination.
• Perform a clinical assessment and write a report that you can send to Picasso as supporting documentation.

Your NZ dentist cannot easily:

• Replace or match a ceramic restoration without the original shade record and lab specification. Ceramic shade matching is highly technical and even a close estimate may look noticeably different in certain lighting. Do not authorise a replacement crown or veneer through a New Zealand lab without consulting Picasso first.
• Service or replace components on an implant from an unfamiliar brand. Implant prosthetic components are brand-specific and often model-specific. A dentist who does not have access to that brand’s component library cannot safely modify or replace the abutment or crown without the implant passport details.
• Carry out major remedial work (bone grafting, implant removal, crown replacement) under Picasso’s warranty without prior written authorisation from Picasso. Unauthorised remedial work may void the warranty on the affected restoration.

If you need to return to Vietnam

Some complications can only be resolved in-clinic. If your remote clinical review concludes that you need to return to Vietnam, your coordinator will advise you on the following:

• Which branch to attend and which clinician will see you
• What clinical records to bring or send ahead
• Whether your SmileCare warranty covers return-visit support — and if so, the process for claiming it
• What additional treatment may be required and whether it will be at no cost, at reduced cost, or outside warranty scope

Do not book flights to Vietnam before the clinical team has reviewed your case and confirmed what will be done on arrival. Turning up unannounced at a branch without a confirmed appointment creates delays and may mean the right clinician is not available.

If you need to communicate urgently: [email protected] (available seven days a week during clinic hours). Email: [email protected]. See /contact/ for all branch contacts.

If the work was done somewhere else (not Picasso)

If your complications relate to dental work performed at a different overseas clinic — not Picasso — your options are more limited but you are not without a path forward.

Picasso can assess remedial cases from other clinics, but it cannot apply its SmileCare warranty to work it did not perform. The first step is a scope call with a coordinator, where you describe what was done and provide any records from the original clinic. From that conversation, the clinical team can advise whether Picasso can help, what that would involve, and what it would cost.

The honest reality is that some overseas dental complications are straightforwardly fixable. Others — particularly poorly placed implants, failed bone grafts, or ceramics that were fabricated without proper occlusal records — require rebuilding from scratch rather than patching. That assessment requires a clinical examination and, often, a CBCT scan. It cannot be made from photographs alone.

If you are seeking a second opinion on problematic overseas dental work in general, your New Zealand dentist or a specialist oral surgeon or prosthodontist is the right starting point before engaging any overseas clinic for remedial work.

To make an enquiry about remedial assessment at Picasso, contact [email protected] with photographs and any available records. A coordinator will advise you on next steps and whether an in-person assessment in Vietnam is required.

Psychological recovery — what’s normal

Dental complications — even minor ones — carry a psychological weight that is easy to underestimate. Here is what patients commonly report and what is actually normal:

Regret about the decision to travel. Very common in the days immediately after returning home, particularly if you are in discomfort or still adjusting. This feeling frequently resolves as the adjustment period passes and the result settles. It does not mean the decision was wrong.

Rumination about the result. New dental work is noticeable to you in a way that nobody else experiences. Most people around you will notice your smile positively, or not at all. The tendency to fixate on minor asymmetries or shade variations is a known psychological pattern after visible cosmetic procedures.

Family and social pressure. Some patients return home to comments from partners, parents, or friends that — well-intentioned or not — amplify self-doubt. “Why didn’t you just go to a dentist here?” is a common refrain. Having a clear, calm account of why you made the decision you did helps deflect this, and having it in writing (your research notes, your quote comparisons) can help you feel grounded.

Anxiety about being separated from the treating clinic. Knowing that the people who did your treatment are 10,000 kilometres away is genuinely unsettling when something feels wrong. This is one reason coordinator contact is available seven days a week during clinic hours — the distance is real, but the communication does not have to be.

If anxiety, regret, or intrusive thoughts related to your dental treatment persist for more than a few weeks and are affecting your sleep, relationships, or daily life, this is worth discussing with your GP. A referral to a counsellor or psychologist is appropriate — not because the dental outcome is necessarily bad, but because your wellbeing matters on its own terms. Dental-related body-image concerns and health anxiety are recognised clinical presentations that respond well to short-course psychological support.

Preventing the crisis: the better path

Most dental tourism complications are not random. They cluster around predictable failure points: inadequate pre-treatment assessment, unrealistic timelines, poor aftercare compliance, and choosing a clinic based on price alone without checking credentials or warranty terms.

If you are still in the planning phase, the most valuable pages on this site are:

• Honest risks of dental treatment in Vietnam — what can go wrong and how to reduce each risk
• Is it safe? — the full safety framework for overseas dental care
• SmileCare warranty terms — what is and is not covered in writing
• Aftercare guide — what to do in the weeks after treatment to protect your result
• Travel insurance for dental treatment — what to look for before you buy a policy

Prevention is not a guarantee of a perfect outcome — no dentist anywhere in the world can promise that. But patients who arrive with realistic expectations, complete records, full medical disclosure, and a clear aftercare plan have materially better outcomes than those who do not.

Next step

If you are in a complication right now: triage first (see the severity levels above), then contact your coordinator.

If you are planning and reading this as part of your due diligence: that is exactly the right approach. Start with a written quote that includes material specifications and warranty terms.

Email [email protected] · Warranty terms · Get a written quote · Aftercare guide

About this page

Medically reviewed by

Dr. Emily Nguyen

Founding Clinical Director, Picasso Dental Clinic

DDS · Founder and Clinical Director, Picasso Dental Clinic group

Clinical focus: Cosmetic dentistry · Veneers · Smile design

Dr. Emily Nguyen founded Picasso Dental Clinic in 2013 (originally Serenity International Dental Clinic) and led its 2023 rebrand. She sets clinical standards across the group's six branches in Hanoi, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, and Da Lat, and personally reviews cosmetic protocols including the Portrait Sitting workflow for veneers and smile makeovers.

Last clinically reviewed

24 May 2026

Published by

Picasso Dental Clinic

Review policy

Every medical procedure page on this site is reviewed by a named Picasso clinician before publication and re-checked when pricing, materials, or protocols change. Source documents are linked at the bottom of each page.