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How to budget your annual leave for dental treatment abroad
How many days annual leave do you need for dental treatment in Vietnam? A UK employee's guide by treatment type, with bank holiday planning tips.
Most UK employees need 10 days of annual leave for a single implant trip or a short veneer case, and 14 calendar days (10 working days) for a full veneer set. With careful use of bank holidays you can stretch those 10 days of leave into 13 or 14 calendar days off work. UK employees have at least 28 days of statutory leave, which is more than enough for two Vietnam trips in a single year.
UK full-time employees have a minimum of 28 days of annual leave including bank holidays. That is 5.6 weeks of statutory entitlement, more than enough for two Vietnam dental trips in the same year. The real constraint is not leave volume; it is leave planning. This guide breaks down the leave requirement by treatment type and shows how to match trips with bank holiday windows.
Leave requirements by treatment type
6 to 10 veneers: plan for 14 calendar days (10 working days)
A full porcelain veneer set at Picasso Dental Clinic requires 13 to 14 days in Vietnam. The clinical appointments occupy roughly 4 days. The remaining 9 to 10 days are laboratory fabrication time, during which you are free to sightsee.
For UK employees working a standard Monday to Friday week, 14 calendar days from a Saturday departure to a Friday or Saturday return uses exactly 10 working days. Most workers can absorb this with two full working weeks of leave.
If you plan over a bank holiday period, such as departing on Good Friday and returning two weeks later, the bank holidays reduce your paid leave requirement. See the bank holiday section below.
For 2 to 4 veneers, the trip can be shortened to 10 to 11 calendar days and 7 to 8 working days of leave.
Single implant, Trip 1 (placement): plan for 10 calendar days (7 to 8 working days)
The first implant trip covers the CBCT scan, extraction (if needed), implant placement, and post-surgical check. This takes roughly 3 clinical days within a 10-day calendar window. You need time to recover from surgery before flying home.
10 calendar days from a Saturday to a Monday or Tuesday requires 7 to 8 working days of leave.
Single implant, Trip 2 (crown fitting): plan for 7 calendar days (5 working days)
The second trip, 4 to 6 months after placement, is shorter. It involves the crown preparation appointment, lab fabrication (2 to 3 days), and final fitting. 7 calendar days is usually sufficient.
A Friday-to-Friday trip with a Thursday departure uses exactly 5 working days.
All-on-4, Trip 1 (surgery): plan for 14 calendar days (10 working days)
All-on-4 immediate loading surgery is a significant procedure. Dr. Tran Thanh Phong, Head of Implantology at Picasso with over 1,000 All-on-4 cases, schedules the consultation, surgery, and post-surgical reviews across a 10 to 14-day window. Allow 14 calendar days and 10 working days.
All-on-4, Trip 2 (final prosthesis): plan for 10 calendar days (7 to 8 working days)
The final prosthesis fitting trip is similar in duration to a single implant Trip 1. Allow 10 calendar days and 7 to 8 working days.
Annual leave summary by treatment
| Treatment | Calendar days | Working days of leave |
|---|---|---|
| 6-10 veneers (full set) | 14 | 10 |
| 2-4 veneers | 10-11 | 7-8 |
| Single implant, Trip 1 | 10 | 7-8 |
| Single implant, Trip 2 | 7 | 5 |
| All-on-4, Trip 1 | 14 | 10 |
| All-on-4, Trip 2 | 10 | 7-8 |
Patients combining a veneer case with a short holiday naturally need the same leave. The lab waiting days are, in effect, a paid holiday.
Using bank holidays to stretch your leave
UK bank holidays are your best tool for getting more calendar days out of fewer leave days.
Easter window (most flexible)
Easter gives you two free days: Good Friday and Easter Monday. Together, they provide 4 consecutive days off for 0 days of annual leave.
A typical Easter strategy for a full veneer trip:
- Depart on the Wednesday before Good Friday
- Return on the Tuesday or Wednesday two weeks later
- Days off work: 14 calendar days
- Annual leave used: 6 days (the Wednesday before and the Wednesday/Thursday after; the four Easter days are free)
This is the most efficient bank holiday window for a 14-day trip. The dates change each year, so check in advance. Easter 2027 falls in late March, which also benefits from slightly cheaper flights.
August bank holiday (last Monday in August)
Departing on Saturday 22 August and returning on Tuesday 1 September creates a 10-day break using only 7 working days of leave, with the bank holiday Monday absorbed for free. This is well suited to a single implant Trip 1 or a 2 to 4 veneer case.
Da Nang in August is warm and busy but manageable. Book hotels early as August is peak season for Vietnamese domestic tourism.
Christmas and New Year window
The Christmas and New Year period typically provides at least 4 non-working days (25 December, 26 December, 1 January, and in Scotland and Northern Ireland additional days). Some employers close between Christmas and New Year, making this an easy window for a Trip 2 crown fitting.
If your Trip 1 implant placement was in July or August, the osseointegration period (4 to 6 months) falls naturally into November to January, making Christmas an ideal window for Trip 2.
Stacking bank holidays across both trips
A common pattern for patients doing a full implant treatment in one year:
- Trip 1 (implant placement): Easter or May bank holiday weekend. Use 7 to 8 days of leave.
- Trip 2 (crown fitting): Christmas window. Use 5 days of leave.
- Total annual leave used: 12 to 13 days out of a 20 to 25-day entitlement (excluding bank holidays).
This leaves at least 7 to 12 days of leave for everything else in the year.
How much notice to give your employer
For a 14-day trip, most employers expect 4 to 6 weeks’ advance notice for leave approval. During peak periods such as August and the Christmas-New Year week, some employers require 8 to 12 weeks’ notice.
As a practical rule, book leave as early as possible once you have your consultation date confirmed. Picasso can be flexible on appointment scheduling if you need to adjust by a few days either side of your leave window.
If your workplace has blackout periods for leave, plan trips around the shoulder months: late January to mid-March, late April (post-Easter), or early November.
What to tell your employer
You are not legally required to give your employer specific details about medical treatment. Under UK employment law, you can simply say: “I have a planned medical procedure requiring two weeks away.” That is sufficient.
If your employer asks whether it is urgent, the honest answer for elective dental treatment is that it is planned in advance rather than emergency-driven. Most employers accept that framing without further question.
If you have a flexible working arrangement or work from home part of the week, the situation is even simpler. Several Picasso patients have confirmed with us that they worked remotely from their Da Nang hotel during the 5 to 8 lab-waiting days. Vietnam is 6 hours ahead of UK time. UK working hours of 9 am to 5 pm correspond to 3 pm to 11 pm Vietnam time, meaning morning sightseeing and afternoon or evening work is entirely feasible.
Planning both trips in the same year
The minimum gap between implant Trip 1 and Trip 2 is 4 months (osseointegration period). In practice, most UK patients schedule:
- Trip 1 in Q2 (April to June): Easter, May bank holiday, or summer leave
- Trip 2 in Q4 (October to January): autumn leave, Christmas, or New Year
This two-trip pattern uses 12 to 13 days of annual leave across the whole year. For a worker with 20 days of leave excluding bank holidays, this leaves 7 to 8 days for other annual leave.
For veneers, a single trip is all that is needed. Most veneer patients take 10 days of leave, do 14 calendar days in Da Nang, and return with their final result.
Before you book
Get a written, itemised quote from Picasso before you commit leave dates. The quote tells you the exact number of trips required and how many clinical days to plan for. Dates can then be confirmed once you have leave approval.