Dental Insurance in Germany: What the Kasse Pays and the 2027 Cut

1. The Fixed Subsidy, Not a Percentage of Your Bill

This is the part that surprises everyone who arrives from a country with percentage-based cover.

For dental replacement work, crowns, bridges, dentures and implants, your Krankenkasse pays a Festzuschuss: a fixed amount tied to your diagnosis, not to what your dentist charges. The amount is calculated from the Regelversorgung, the standard adequate treatment for that finding. Choose something more expensive and the subsidy does not move.

In 2026 the subsidy covers 60 percent of the standard treatment, rising to 70 percent with five years of documented check-ups and 75 percent with ten. Low earners can apply for a hardship ruling that doubles the fixed subsidy and effectively covers the standard treatment.

Everything before replacement works differently. Annual check-ups, tartar removal once a year, and standard fillings stay free at the point of use. The gap opens at the crown, not at the appointment.

2. The Booklet That Decides Your Percentage

The Bonusheft is a small paper booklet your dentist stamps at every check-up. One check-up per calendar year for adults is enough.

Five unbroken years lift your subsidy by ten percentage points, ten unbroken years by fifteen. One missing year resets the count to zero. No appeal, no partial credit.

Your choice of Krankenkasse does not move the Festzuschuss, which is set nationally. It changes two things around it: the Zusatzbeitrag deducted from your salary every month, and whether those stamped check-ups earn you anything back. Bonus programmes that pay cashback for documented dental visits vary widely between funds, and so does whether you can settle the whole thing in English.

3. The 2027 Cut and the Deadline Attached to It

On 10 July 2026 parliament passed the GKV-Beitragssatzstabilisierungsgesetz, and the Bundesrat approved it the same day. From 1 January 2027 every dental subsidy tier drops by ten percentage points, back to the level of September 2020.

| Bonusheft | Until 31 Dec 2026 | From 1 Jan 2027 | |---|---|---| | None | 60% | 50% | | 5 years | 70% | 60% | | 10 years | 75% | 65% |

In money, the cut is roughly 132 euros more out of pocket for a single bridge, and proportionally more for larger work.

The detail that matters this year: the higher subsidy is preserved for treatment plans your Kasse approves by 31 December 2026. If a dentist has already told you a crown is coming, getting the Heil- und Kostenplan submitted and approved before the year ends locks in the current rate. Waiting until the treatment is convenient costs you the difference.

4. What Dental Work Costs

Real invoices vary with material, lab and region, but the ranges are stable:

| Treatment | Typical total | What the Kasse contributes | |---|---|---| | Crown | 300 to 1,600 euros | Fixed subsidy for the finding, about 239 euros without Bonusheft in 2026 | | Bridge | 800 to 2,500 euros | Fixed subsidy for the finding | | Denture | 800 to 1,600 euros | Fixed subsidy for the finding | | Implant plus crown | 2,200 to 4,200 euros | Only the subsidy for the standard alternative, nothing for the implant itself |

Take a single crown on a molar. The 2026 subsidy for that finding runs at 239.03 euros without a Bonusheft, 278.87 euros after five years, and 298.79 euros after ten. Against a 900 euro crown, you pay the remainder either way.

Implants are the hardest case. Statutory insurance treats the implant body and the surgery as your choice rather than standard care, so it contributes only what the conventional solution would have attracted. On a 2,500 euro implant, that leaves roughly 2,260 euros with you.

5. Fillings After the Amalgam Ban

The EU banned dental amalgam from 1 January 2025, which changed what your standard filling is made of rather than what it costs you.

In the back teeth, self-adhesive composites and glass ionomer cements are now the standard care and remain free of charge. Your dentist may offer a higher-grade composite placed with the classic adhesive technique, or an inlay, and those are billed privately.

Ask which of the two you are being offered before treatment starts. The free option is a genuine statutory benefit, not a downgrade you have to accept silently, and a practice that presents only the private version is presenting a preference rather than a rule.

6. What a Top-Up Policy Covers, and the Three Traps

A Zahnzusatzversicherung tops up the gap between the fixed subsidy and the invoice, typically to 70 or 90 percent of the total, with better tariffs also paying toward professional cleaning and inlays.

Three contract mechanics decide whether the policy is worth anything to you:

• Recommended treatment is excluded, always. If a dentist has diagnosed or advised the work before your policy starts, no tariff pays for it. This holds even for products advertised without waiting periods. It is the reason the policy has to come before the appointment.
• Waiting periods of around eight months are common, though many current tariffs waive them. A waived waiting period does not undo the exclusion above.
• The Zahnstaffel caps what you can claim in the first years, often a few thousand euros across years one to four, regardless of what the policy promises long term.

Insurers ask about the state of your teeth when you apply, including missing teeth and treatment in the past years. Answer accurately. A policy obtained on wrong answers pays nothing at the moment you need it.

7. When It Is Not Worth It

A top-up policy is a bet on future treatment, and it does not suit everyone.

It rarely pays off if you already have a treatment plan, since exactly that work is excluded. It also makes little sense if you expect to leave Germany within two or three years, because the Zahnstaffel limits early claims and the premium keeps running. If your teeth are sound, you are in your twenties, and you keep the check-ups up, the statutory subsidy plus a decade of Bonusheft covers standard care reasonably well.

It earns its premium in the opposite case: you plan to stay, you want more than the standard solution, or you know the family history that is heading your way. Our comparison of public and private health insurance sets out how the same logic plays out across the rest of your cover.

8. If You Leave Germany

Dental top-up contracts run for a minimum term, usually two years, and then renew unless you cancel in time. Moving abroad is not automatically a special right of termination, so read the clause rather than assuming the move ends the contract.

Send the cancellation in writing with your deregistration confirmation, keep proof of postage, and check the notice period first. Our guide to cancelling German contracts covers the deadlines and the wording that works.

9. Your Next Steps

1. Start the Bonusheft this year if you have not, and keep one check-up per calendar year.
2. Ask whether treatment is already planned before you compare policies, because that answer decides whether any of them will pay.
3. If a crown or bridge is already on the table, get the treatment plan approved before 31 December 2026 to keep the current subsidy rate.
4. Compare tariffs on the exclusions, the Zahnstaffel and the annual caps rather than the monthly premium alone.