How Much Do Dental Procedures Cost in Your Country?

9 comments

1. Basic dental care is covered by public health insurance, for things like routine checkups and fillings. We don’t need private health insurance for basic dental procedures unlike Canada where I used to live, where something like a root canal or crown would cost you an arm/leg if you didn’t have good insurance.

2. Costs can vary a lot depending on the complexity. They all have the same [tariffs](https://www.independer.nl/zorgverzekering/info/tandartsverzekering/tandartstarieven) over here, but they can have different opinions in what treatment is needed. €300-€1000 for a root canel, €50-€100 for removing wisdom teeth. Complex wisdom teeth removal is done in the hospital and covered by mandatory basic insurance. Dentists are not covered by basic insurance, so you need to pay the full amount. Specific dental insurance isn’t worth it in the Netherlands; it’s essentially a deferred savings account for most people. I have very simple teeth, so I only pay €28 for my six-monthly checkup. Wait time for non urgent treatment is [1-4 weeks](https://www.staatvandemondzorg.nl/toegankelijkheid-van-de-mondzorg/wachttijden-in-tandartspraktijken/).

3. Wisdom teeth removal is free. I’ve had two root canals and they were free, but idk if they always are. No wait time for my root canals, maybe like three weeks for my wisdom teeth. They weren’t infected, just had to come out eventually since they were growing weirdly. 

   I also need a tooth implant at the moment and that’s mostly not covered by health insurance. My dentist quoted me like 2500€. 

4. In Germany, wisdom teeth removal is covered by the public health insurance. I got 3 taken out and paid zero euros, including one which required a jaw surgeon to perform the procedure and several follow-up appointments. Waiting time depends on the urgency, if it’s urgent you can get an appointment in the upcoming days.

   Not totally sure about root canals, but I heard they are quite expensive to begin with. However, the health insurance may cover part or all of it, depending on the cases. In general for more complex dental care, we have to pay a part of the cost out of pocket, for example if we want better materials or advanced procedures.

   In Italy, dental care is not likely covered by the public insurance. You can go to the hospital or a dentist studio and fully pay out of pocket. My sister paid around 200€ for each wisdom tooth, but it depends on the complexity.

5. I think health insurance covers this, so there are no costs involved, unless you go to a private doctor. I don’t know the details, though. I’ve never paid anything at the dentist, but I’ve never had any major procedures done either.

   Austrians go to Hungary for expensive procedures witch are not covered by insurance; there are numerous clinics just across the border that specialise in foreign customers. Having a wisdom tooth removed will probably cost around 200 euros per tooth, but I don’t know for sure. It’s probably worth flying from the USA to have it done elsewhere.

6. Dental care is not financially covered by the government, except for certain groups (free for those up to 18 years, heavily subsidised up to 28; drug addicts, the mentally deficient, people in nursing homes, people with certain tooth diseases and some other groups are also covered). The normal is that you pay everything out of pocket; dental insurance is rare. What you’re describing could quite plausibly get up to 20 000 NOK-ish (about 2000 USD) unless you fall into a subsidised group.

7. I have to ask as another American, what the hell is up with your wisdom teeth that they cost that much? Getting all 4 of mine out (top 2 were very slightly impacted but could come out in one piece, bottom two were badly impacted and had to be smashed apart and extracted in bits, twilight sedation) only cost like $1500 and insurance covered about half of it. Are yours like turbo-impacted and they need to drill through your jaw or something?

8. I think 300-800€ is the ball park you are looking for at a private dentist for what you need here in Finland, though I may be terribly wrong. Going the public route is a fraction of the price, but you have to wait for a ages to finally receive treatment.

   Finland has free public dental care for people under 18 including automatic yearly appointments at a normal dentist and an orthodontist appointment at 12 years old to check if you need braces. I got my teeth straightened for completely free as a kid. Exceptional service, though that might be because they can set the next appointment to an arbitrary date in the future that has space. At a private dentist the braces would have been in the thousands.

   [Check here for prices at one of the private dentist chains.](https://www.oral.fi/en/information/information-for-fustomers/prices/)

   I am not exactly sure how the KELA (Social security, paid by state) reimbursement works in the private sector dentist industry though.

9. Extractions is the only thing that is included by public health care here, so this would cost you exactly 0€. Other things can be expensive.

   Oops. Now I’ve read about a «root canal». No idea what this is. No idea of the price.