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Dental Treatment Costs
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At a glance
Dental treatment costs: Essentials
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- Statutory health insurance funds in Germany cover only basic dental care and dentures, leaving you to cover the costs of any additional dental services.
- You must expect high additional costs for high-quality treatments according to modern dental procedures — for example, ceramic fillings and implants, but also for professional dental cleanings.
- Private supplemental dental insurance can be a valuable addition to statutory dental care in Germany. Depending on the plan, it may offer partial coverage or cover up to 95% or 100% of your dental treatment costs, providing a significant financial safety net and enhancing oral health.
- The monthly premiums for comprehensive additional dental insurance average between €10 and €15.
- For expats in Germany, we particularly recommend dental insurance from the digital insurance companies ottonova, Feather, and Getsafe. They offer high-quality dental insurance policies and bilingual German and English services at favorable conditions.
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How does health insurance in Germany work?
The two pillars of the German healthcare system are statutory and private health insurance. Statutory insurance is significantly more important, as it covers around 88% of all insured individuals.
As an employee, you can choose private insurance if your annual gross income exceeds the compulsory insurance threshold of €73,800. If your income is below this amount, you must take out insurance with a statutory health insurance company. The employer pays 50% of the insurance contribution.
Freelancers and the self-employed can decide between the statutory and private systems without income thresholds.
For freelancers and the self-employed, a private plan is often not only the better option in terms of benefits, but also financially, as they do not receive the employer’s contribution. Young people without pre-existing conditions benefit from low premiums with private comprehensive insurance. However — in contrast to the public healthcare system — spouses, or children cannot be co-insured free of charge.
During the first three months of their studies, students have the option to decide between the statutory or private system. Statutory insurance offers particularly low premiums for students, but these only apply until the end of the 14th semester or until the student’s 30th birthday. Subsequently, students can switch back to a private insurer.
Despite affordable premiums for statutory student health insurance — as an international student in Germany, you should also check the offers from private providers before deciding on insurance.
Modern digital insurers, such as ottonova, offer affordable rates with significantly better benefits than statutory insurance, including comprehensive dental healthcare.
Public health insurance in Germany — cost-effective standard benefits
The benefits of statutory insurance are identical for all insured people and do not depend on the statutory health insurance provider you have selected.
Public health insurance covers standard benefits. Medical necessity and cost-effectiveness are the reimbursement criteria for treatment costs.
The contributions for statutory insurance are income-dependent. They increase gradually up to the compulsory insurance limit.
Private health insurance in Germany — individually agreed benefits and tariffs
Private plans offer a range of benefits agreed upon in the individual contract, allowing you to select a tariff that best meets your needs.
The monthly premium you pay depends on the scope of benefits in the tariff, your age, and your state of health at the time of insurance enrollment. Deductibles can reduce your insurance costs.
Private policies usually offer a broader range of benefits than the German public system, providing comprehensive coverage for your health needs. You can also use the services of private doctors who are not licensed by the statutory system.
With private insurance, you also benefit from comprehensive coverage for dental treatments. Depending on the tariff, up to 100% of dental costs are reimbursed.
What dental costs are covered by public health insurance in Germany?
Public health insurance covers the costs of dental treatment and dentures, provided they are part of standard dental care in Germany.
Covered are only basic treatments; for all other dental services and many more specialized procedures, you must pay out of pocket.
The cost coverage limits for dentures are particularly tight. A bonus system shall ensure that insured people use preventive dental care. For bonus benefits, your dental practice must examine your teeth at least once a year and document the examinations in a bonus booklet. The following bonuses are available:
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- Standard subsidy without bonus: 60%
- After 5 years with complete documentation of check-ups: 70%
- After 10 years: 75%
- Hardship regulations for people on low incomes: Reimbursement of up to 100% of the benefits of standard care
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Patients who miss their dental check-up or fail to document it in the bonus booklet within a given year will revert to the initial status of 60% reimbursement and a personal co-payment of 40%.
In addition, the allowances for treatments are defined by standard care. In principle, public insurance only covers the most economical treatment option. If you want more expensive dental procedures or a treatment method not covered by public insurance, you will have to pay the costs privately. In short, public health insurance covers only basic dental care. Many treatments are not or only partly covered.
Dental services without public health insurance coverage
Various dental services are generally excluded from public health insurance coverage, meaning that you cannot receive any subsidies for them as a solution to your dental problems. These include:
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- Ceramic fillings
- Composite fillings for molars
- Full veneers made of plastic or ceramic
- High-quality dental prostheses, such as inlays and overlays
- Dental implants
- High-quality materials for crowns or bridges
- In-depth functional diagnostics, for example, for root canal treatments
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Public dental insurance in Germany — with high additional costs
Even with subsidized treatment, the dental benefits provided by public health insurance are limited. If you would rather not pay for additional services, you must accept qualitative, functional, and aesthetic restrictions in your dental care. Such additional services are a high-cost factor without supplemental dental insurance, as statutory insurance only covers the standard treatment.
Here are some examples of the costs of dental treatments and limitations of public dental insurance in Germany:
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- Professional dental cleaning: In Germany, professional tooth cleaning costs between €80 and €100. It is an important preventive measure for lasting dental health and the aesthetic appearance of the teeth. However, public health insurance only covers professional dental cleaning if it is a medically necessary treatment for gum disease. Without a periodontal indication, the public system offers only tartar removal as preventive care. However, extended preventive care services are provided for children and adolescents.
- Dental fillings: Public health insurance covers only composite and amalgam fillings. They cover €50 to €70 for molars (amalgam fillings) and €100 to €250 for anterior teeth (tooth-colored composite fillings). Ceramic inlays cost between €350 and €1,000 per tooth.
- Bridges: Public health insurance only covers bridges made of simple metal alloys and up to €460 (without bonus). However, today’s dental standard is represented by ceramic bridges, which cost at least €1,500.
- Dental implant costs: A dental implant can cost up to €3,000 per tooth. However, your public health insurance company will only cover the €460 estimated for a simple bridge. Therefore, you will pay €2,450 out of your pocket. If you have taken out private supplementary dental insurance covering 90% of the treatment costs, your contribution for a dental implant will only be €300.
- Root canal treatment: These treatments cost more than €1,000 per tooth. Statutory insurance only covers root canal treatment if the affected tooth is deemed “worth preserving” or the therapy preserves a previously intact set of teeth. Otherwise, you will have to accept tooth extraction. Furthermore, modern and more complex procedures for root canal treatment, such as laser and computer-assisted diagnostics and therapy methods, are not covered.
- Orthodontics: With a few exceptions, orthodontic treatment is only covered for children and adolescents. The orthodontic indication groups (Kieferorthopädische Indikationsgruppen, KIG) determine whether treatment is eligible for reimbursement. Statutory insurance only reimburses therapy in severe cases (KIG 3-5). Malocclusions classified as KIG 1-2 are considered aesthetic problems, meaning that treatment is not reimbursed. Additionally, only metal braces (with a total cost of approximately €2,000 to €4,000) are covered. However, high-quality solutions such as lingual braces or Invisalign are often significantly pricier. In addition, parents must initially pay 20% of the costs themselves until the treatment is successfully completed.
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What does private supplemental dental insurance cover?
Private supplemental dental insurance plans can provide full dental coverage, encompassing all benefits outlined in the dental insurance contract and the selected tariff.
Private reimbursement and public insurance subsidies
If you have taken out additional dental insurance, you will also receive public health insurance subsidies in addition to the private reimbursements. Your dental practice will issue an invoice for services that fall outside standard care, which you will submit to your private health insurer for reimbursement.
Waiting time and dental scales
As with comprehensive private plans, waiting periods of up to 8 months also apply to supplemental dental tariffs. However, tariffs without waiting times are increasingly being found on the market.
Private supplemental insurance includes dental scales as part of its tariffs: In the first 4 to 7 years, dental treatments and dentures are only covered up to certain amounts, with coverage increasing annually. However, most private dental insurance companies work with dental scales of a maximum of 4 years.
After accidents, neither dental scales nor waiting periods apply.
How to find the best dental insurance plans in Germany?
You can find a policy that best meets your requirements by comparing different dental insurance providers and tariffs.
For expats in Germany, we recommend the dental plans of the digital insurance companies ottonova, Feather, and Getsafe. Their advantages include comprehensive benefits under favorable conditions and full digital service in German and English. Their insurance policies do not include waiting periods or age limits.
ottonova dental insurance
Our editors’ recommendation for a particularly high-performance dental insurance policy is ottonova’s 3 dental tariffs.
This insurance provider has regularly received top marks for its dental insurance and service quality from the independent consumer organization Stiftung Warentest over the past 5 years. We consider its policy as the best dental insurance in Germany.
ottonova Dental 70
ottonova Tooth 85
ottonova Tooth 100
Feather dental insurance
Feather offers 2 monthly dental tariffs: Basic (from €10.90) and Advanced (from €28.55). Its benefits include:
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- Professional cleaning: Basic — €150 per year, Advanced — unlimited
- Dental treatments and prevention: 100% (Basic: dental scale €150 per year in the first 2 years)
- Dentures: Basic — up to 60%, Advanced — flexible choice of 80%, 90% or 100%
- Orthodontic treatments: up to the age of 21, in addition to public health insurance subsidies of up to €2,000; dental scale in the 1st and 2nd year €150 each, in the 3rd year €1,700
- Teeth whitening: €200 every 2 years, in the Advanced tariff
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Getsafe dental insurance
The insurance provider Getsafe offers a monthly dental insurance tariff of €9.38. It covers:
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- Professional cleaning: up to €80 per year
- Dental and periodontal treatment: 100%
- Dentures: 75%
- Treatment by private dentists: fillings 70%, dentures 45%
- No orthodontics
- Dental discount in the first 4 years
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Conclusion
If you have public insurance, consider supplementing it with additional private dental insurance. This protects you against high dental costs not covered by statutory insurance.
Good plans cover 70% and 100% of dental treatment costs, dental implants, and other dental prostheses. Current dental standards are the benchmark for cost coverage.
Frequently Asked Questions — FAQ
Please ensure that your plan has no upper limits for the annual reimbursement of dentures or material and laboratory costs. Calculating such expenses in advance is impossible, so you must expect high financial burdens despite having insurance.
It is ideal if your supplementary dental insurance reimburses you for the actual treatment costs without considering subsidies from statutory insurance. Some health insurance providers only include statutory subsidies for certain treatment categories.
No. Comprehensive dental coverage is also included in private comprehensive health insurance. Supplementary dental insurance is specifically designed for individuals with public health insurance who want to enhance their oral health.
The extent to which supplementary insurance covers dental costs depends on the chosen tariff and deductibles.
Costs for treatments started before the contract was concluded, which fall within waiting times or exceed the dental scale limit in the first few years, are not covered.
As a rule, yes. Depending on the insurer, most policies offer at least Europe-wide coverage, but often worldwide coverage.
Therefore, emergency dental care is readily available when traveling without any issues. However, supplemental policies typically also cover planned dentist visits abroad; however, dental insurance companies usually require advance approval before the treatment begins.
As a general rule, treatments that were started before the insurance contract was taken out are not covered. Existing dental damage or dentures for a missing tooth are also usually not insurable.
Professional dental cleanings not only ensure beautiful teeth but are also an important preventive measure. They prevent periodontitis or stop it in its early stages.
Statutory insurance only covers medically necessary teeth cleaning. With additional coverage from supplemental insurance, you can save money here, too. Depending on your plan, the insurer will reimburse the full cost of preventive teeth cleaning at regular intervals or grant a lump sum per year.
