Save on Dental Care in Germany: 5 Tips For Reducing Dental Costs

Key takeaways

• You can save on dental care by getting regular preventive dental check-ups.
• Recommend cheaper labs and material providers to your dentist to save on costs.
• Get dental treatment abroad to get cost-effective dental care.
• Deduct dental expenses from your income tax.

This is how you do it

• The best way to get comprehensive dental coverage is to get supplementary dental insurance in Germany.
• We found Concordia (Zahn Sorglos), Deutsche Familienversicherung AG* (Exclusiv 100), Barmenia* (Mehr Zahn 100 + Mehr Zahnvorsorge Bonus), and Feather* (Advanced) among the best dental insurance plans in Germany as of Aug 2024. Feather is an insurance agent and sells Barmenia’s dental insurance plans.
• Get a second opinion for expensive dental treatments.
• Be aware of the challenges if you decide to get dental treatment abroad.

Table of Contents

Dental treatment costs in Germany

Dental treatment costs depend on the quality of materials, equipment, and dentists. Depending on the dental problem, you can expect an invoice of a few hundred to thousands of euros.

Moreover, dental coverage in public health insurance is very basic. So, you usually pay part of the dental costs out of your own pocket.

Here is a summary of the cost of typical dental treatments.

Dental Treatment	Cost
Professional cleaning	80 € and 120 € per professional cleaning. Public health insurance companies like TK cover 40 € per annum for professional cleaning.
Tooth extraction	Public health insurance covers the complete cost of tooth extraction. However, you pay around 200 € to 300 € for treatments under general anesthesia and 100 € to 200 € for treatments under nitrous oxide.
Tooth filling	Public health insurance covers amalgam and plastic tooth filling, but you pay for the ceramic tooth filling. Ceramic tooth filling costs around 550 € per tooth.
Root canal	Root canal treatment costs between 200 € and 1000 € per tooth. The public insurer covers the cost only if the tooth can be saved. However, you must still pay part of the costs out of your own pocket.
Dental implant	Public health insurance doesn’t cover the costs of dental implants. A dental implant costs between 1400 € and 2200 € per tooth.
Periodontitis	The treatment cost varies depending on the treatment method and the extent of damage. You can expect to pay between 100€ and 500€. Public health insurance covers the cost of basic treatments only. Modern treatment methods like Laser or Vector therapy are not covered.
Bleaching	Home bleaching costs around 200€ to 500€. In-office bleaching costs around 30€ to 70 euros per tooth. A power bleach with a lamp is around 600€ to 800 euros. Public health insurance doesn’t cover the costs, as bleaching is purely cosmetic treatment.

How can you save on dental care in Germany?

There are many ways to get cost-effective dental treatment in Germany and elsewhere.

#1 Bonus booklet (Bonus­heft) to increase your dental subsidies

Normally, statutory health insurance covers 60% of the cost of standard care dental treatments. However, you can increase this subsidy to 70% and 75%.

You can increase the subsidy by visiting a dentist at least once a year for a preventive dental check-up.

• Your subsidy increases to 70% if you do regular dental check-ups for 5 years. 
• The subsidy increases to 75%  if you do dental check-ups for 10 years.

Ensure the dentist enters the examinations in your bonus booklet (Bonusheft). If it’s your first visit to the dentist, you can get the bonus booklet from your dentist.

#2 Get a second opinion

You should always ask the dentist for a dental treatment cost plan. Ask your dentist about the treatment and its alternatives.

If you feel confident about the treatment and the costs, proceed with the dental procedures. But if you don’t, get a second opinion.

Get a dental cost plan from another dentist and compare it with the previous one. This will give you a better idea of dental services and their costs. 

Moreover, the second opinion is free of charge. And the consulting dentists are not allowed to treat you. This ensures that the advice is independent of economic interests.

NOTE: Dental costs can vary greatly from one dentist to another. It’s because some dentists partner with cost-effective labs, which can save you some money.

#3 Cheaper material and affordable labs to reduce dental costs

Dental laboratory and material costs comprise more than half of every dental treatment bill. You can save money by suggesting affordable labs to your dentist.

Don’t worry; you don’t have to search for cost-effective labs yourself. You can simply ask your health insurance provider. 

Insurers help their members in finding inexpensive dental labs and material providers. 

#4 Supplementary dental insurance for comprehensive dental coverage

You can reduce dental treatment costs only to a certain extent. So, you need a supplementary dental insurance policy to get comprehensive dental coverage. 

Good dental insurance covers up to 100% of dental costs. However, dental insurance plans come with a reimbursement limit period of 4 to 5 years.

During the reimbursement limit period, the insurance company limits the amount of dental costs covered. In addition, dental insurance providers don’t cover existing dental problems.

So, get a dental insurance policy sooner rather than later. You should consider getting dental insurance if you are 35 or above.

In our research, we found

• Deutsche Familienversicherung AG* (Exclusiv 100),
• Barmenia* (Mehr Zahn 100 + Mehr Zahnvorsorge Bonus),
• and Feather* (Advanced)

among the best dental insurance plans in Germany as of 2024. You can read how we found the best dental insurance plans here.

NOTE: Feather is an insurance agent and sells Barmenia’s dental insurance policies. The benefit of taking insurance from Feather is that you can file claims and get customer support in English.

#5 Get dental treatment abroad for cheaper dental care

Getting dental treatment from Eastern European countries or Asia can save you a lot of money. However, you should know the challenges and legal boundaries of getting dental treatment abroad.

Here are some of the things you should consider before getting dental treatment abroad.

• Travel time and cost: When getting treatment abroad, you should consider the traveling time and cost. Some dental treatments require multiple visits to the dentist over months. In such a situation, treatment abroad only makes sense if the dental clinic partners with other dentists in Germany.
• Public health insurance dental coverage: You must check if your public health insurance company reimburses the cost of treatment abroad. The public health insurance reimburses the costs of dental treatments in EU countries. However, the dental costs the public insurer reimburses are the same as they would have for the treatment in Germany. But you should always confirm with your insurer before starting the dental care.
• Dental treatment cost estimate: To get reimbursement from your health insurance company, you need a treatment cost plan from a dentist in Germany and from a foreign dentist who’ll perform the treatment. Submit the cost plan to your health insurance company and await their confirmation. Once the health insurer confirms what they’ll cover, you can proceed with the dental care.
• Pay yourself first: You pay the costs for dental treatments abroad out of your pocket. Then, you can submit the invoice to your health insurance company for reimbursement.
• After treatment support: You may need dental check-ups after the treatment. The reason could be a faulty treatment or denture. But to resolve it, you must visit the dentist, which incurs additional travel and accommodation costs. Some dentists in Eastern EU countries have partners in Germany who can provide support. So, always check with the foreign dentist about this.
• Medical liability: Medical liability law is not as strict in all EU countries as in Germany. Compensation for pain and damages is more difficult to obtain outside Germany. Moreover, you must file a lawsuit in court at the dentist’s registered office abroad.
• Save on laboratory costs: Suppose you don’t want to get dental treatment abroad. You can still benefit from the low lab and material prices in neighboring European countries. Laboratory and material costs account for about 60% of the dental costs. So, if your German dentist works with a laboratory in an Eastern EU country, you can save up to 50 percent of treatment costs. 

Apply for hardship regulation

Public health insurance in Germany covers the complete cost of dental treatments for low earners.

NOTE: Public insurance providers cover the cost of dental treatments as per “standard care” only. If you opt for a higher-quality treatment, you bear the cost difference.

The public insurer considers anyone with a gross income less than 1414 € per month (as of 2024) as low earners.

Moreover, the gross income limit increases to 1944.25 € if a relative lives in your household. The limit increases further by 353.50 € (as of 2024) for each additional relative.

You can avail yourself of hardship regulation benefits by submitting an application to your health insurance provider.

For TK customers, you must submit the following application “Antrag Zuschuss zum Eigen­an­teil Zahn­er­satz.“

Can you deduct dental costs from taxes?

Yes, you can deduct dental costs from taxes. You enter the dental costs in your tax return’s “Extraordinary Expenses” section. 

The tax office deducts the reasonable burden from your dental costs and considers the rest for the tax deduction. The reasonable burden is a percentage of your gross salary.

You can only deduct the dental costs that are not covered by health or dental insurance.

References

• https://www.test.de/Gesetzliche-Krankenversicherung-Alle-Infos-zum-Thema-Krankenkassen-1151006-1152041/
• https://www.deutsche-familienversicherung.de/zahnversicherungen/zahnzusatzversicherung/ratgeber/artikel/zahnzusatzversicherung-von-der-steuer-absetzen/