Dentist visits can quickly become expensive. With dental supplemental insurance, you can theoretically reduce your out-of-pocket expenses, but only if certain conditions are met.
You leave the dentist’s office clutching a bill for several hundred euros—unfortunately, this is not uncommon. With statutory insurance, you typically have to cover 25 to 40 percent of the costs for dental prosthetics (e.g. crowns, bridges, implants). Additionally, some dental treatments and materials are not subsidized by statutory health insurance (GKV) at all.
When faced with the dentist’s bill, the question naturally arises: Should I quickly take out a dental supplemental insurance policy to reduce or avoid these costs? The answer is unfortunately no. Here are the reasons:
- For a treatment that has already started or been recommended, dental supplemental insurance usually won’t help you. If a diagnosis has already been made, the insurance will not cover any costs, and you must pay for the treatment out of pocket.
- Most dental supplemental insurances impose certain reimbursement limits during the first years after the policy is signed. For instance, if you need an expensive implant, you will need to be insured with them for a few years before they will cover the full costs.
- Some insurances even have waiting periods of up to eight months. During this time, you cannot claim any benefits.
Conclusion: If you want your dental supplemental insurance to cover the costs, you should keep an eye on these conditions and plan accordingly.
While there are some plans that do cover already initiated treatments, for example, Ergo offers such a plan with immediate coverage. However, we explain why we do not consider it to be recommendable in our free Finanztip guide “Dental supplemental insurance without waiting period.”
When does dental supplemental insurance make sense?
For the reasons mentioned above, we advise you to consider early on whether dental supplemental insurance is worthwhile for you. The following questions may help you decide:
- Have you had frequent dental issues in the past and anticipate more costs in the future? Then dental supplemental insurance may be worth considering.
- Do you value expensive dental prosthetics and visually appealing materials? In that case, it may be beneficial.
- Is it more likely that you will only occasionally need a bridge or crown? In this case, you might be better off setting that money aside each month (e.g., in a well-interesting savings account) and covering your out-of-pocket expenses for treatments provided by your health insurance.
If dental supplemental insurance makes sense for you, you should budget between 20 to 40 euros per month. We recommend the plans Allianz MeinZahnschutz 90/90 AR and Württembergische Zahnersatz 90 + Zahnbehandlung Plus. These have no waiting periods and high reimbursement limits in the first few years, although they are somewhat more expensive than our budget recommendation, the ZZPro90 plan from HUK-Coburg or HUK24.
