Dental fee schedule (GOZ)

The dental fee schedule sets down basic fees for dental treatments and services

Health insurance is mandatory for everyone living and working in Germany. You can choose between public and private health insurance, but you must take out a suitable and adequate insurance policy.

Public health insurance (GKV) policies include an annual dental hygiene visit for adults (and six-monthly visits for children) as standard. However, dental coverage in the public insurance system is only covered to a basic level – which can result in policyholders facing significant additional costs. For this reason, many publicly insured people take out top-up insurance for dental services to cover these costs.

If you take out private health insurance (PKV), the coverage for dental treatments and services will be send out in detail in your policy. You should ensure this coverage meets your needs before concluding the contract.

Dentists calculate their bills on the basis of the official dental fee schedule. They can multiply this fee by an incremental factor of up to 3.5 depending on the complexity of the treatment, the materials needed, the time required, and the circumstances in which the treatment is administered. However, this must be justified in writing.

In most cases, dentists provide an estimate outlining the expected cost before administering treatment, which allows patients to check whether their insurance provider will cover the cost.

• At ottonova, we cover in our comprehensive health insurance tariffs up to 3.5 times and in the First Class tariff even up to 5 times the basic fee set down in the GOZ. In our special Expat comprehensive tariff we also cover up to 5 times the basic fee, which can be helpful if you need to see a leading specialist.
• The ottonova dental top-up tariffs reimburse dental treatments up to the maximum rate of the dental fee schedule (3.5 times).