What is a treatment and cost plan at the dentist in Germany?

Fixed subsidies for 2026 for the most common findings and usual total costs, so you can make sense of part 2 of your plan.

Before a dental practice fits dentures, crowns or bridges (Zahnersatz) for someone with statutory health insurance (gesetzliche Krankenversicherung), it must draw up a treatment and cost plan. It shows the findings, meaning what is missing or broken on which tooth, the standard treatment, the treatment actually planned with type, scope and cost, and where the dental work will be made. The plan is free for statutory patients.

The plan has two parts. Part 1 goes to the health insurer, which uses it to confirm the findings and set the fixed subsidy. Part 2 is for you: it lists the expected total cost with fees, materials and lab work and shows what is left for you to pay after the subsidy. The form is in German, so ask the practice to go through it with you.

The insurer does not pay a percentage of your bill but a fixed amount per finding. It is 60 percent of the cost of the standard treatment. If you went for check-ups every year for five years without a gap and can prove it in your bonus booklet (Bonusheft), you get 70 percent, after ten years 75 percent.

If you choose a nicer or more elaborate solution, the subsidy stays the same and you pay the whole difference. For a ceramic crown costing about EUR 1,000, the subsidy therefore often covers only a quarter to a third.

Under a new German law to stabilise statutory health insurance contributions (GKV-Beitragssatzstabilisierungsgesetz), fixed subsidies fall by ten percentage points at every level on 1 January 2027: 50 instead of 60 percent without a bonus, 60 instead of 70 after five years and 65 instead of 75 percent after ten years.

What counts is the day your insurer approves the plan, not the day of treatment. A plan approved by 31 December 2026 keeps the old rates, even if the crown is fitted in spring 2027. Because approval is valid for six months, the work must then be fitted by the end of June 2027 at the latest, or extended in good time.

The insurer checks the plan before treatment starts. It can bring in an expert, who will then usually examine you at his practice. The insurer must decide within three weeks, within five weeks with an expert report, and within six weeks in the dental expert procedure.

Treatment should only start after approval. If you start earlier, you risk the subsidy. Approval is valid for six months, and what counts is the finished fitting of the dental work, not the first appointment. If the time is not enough, apply for an extension before it runs out.

Many supplementary dental policies (Zahnzusatzversicherung) reimburse a percentage of the bill, usually including the statutory share. With the treatment and cost plan you can ask the insurer before treatment what it will pay. That costs nothing and avoids surprises.

The plan also proves when a treatment was recommended. If that date is before your policy started, the treatment counts as already under way and is almost never covered. If you want supplementary dental cover, take it out before the dentist draws up a plan.

Statutory patients do not need a treatment and cost plan for fillings, root canal treatment or check-ups. Gum disease, orthodontics and jaw joint treatment have their own plans with different rules.

Privately insured patients do not need approval from a statutory insurer. A cost estimate still makes sense, because private health insurers and some policies otherwise only check after the bill arrives.