The statutory health insurance offers families a very favourable insurance cover for their offspring through the co-insurance of children. However, the GKV never covers the total costs of orthodontic treatment. For this reason, it is advantageous for parents to take out supplementary dental insurance for their children. Here you will find all the important details and useful answers to this policy.
Does supplementary dental insurance make sense for children?
As adults we usually admire how white children’s teeth can be. Especially in the first few years, very few think about possible cost-intensive treatments at the dentist. But the statistics reveal different figures. According to a survey conducted in 2011, more than 80 percent of the kindergarten children examined had a malpositioned tooth. The Statistical Yearbook of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Dentists lists more than 7.8 million orthodontic treatments for 2015 for which the statutory health insurance (SHI) has paid. It is generally assumed that every second child will sooner or later need orthodontic treatment to correct malocclusions of the teeth. The probability is therefore very high that your child will also need an orthodontist later.
If your child is now covered by statutory health insurance, the SHI system will pay up to 80 percent of the costs incurred for pronounced misalignments. But braces, whether loose or fixed, amount to several thousand euros. Even if you “only” have to pay one fifth of it, the amount is usually always four-digit. And if your child’s teeth are less malpositioned, the amount reimbursed by the statutory health insurance is lower. This means that you have to reckon with much higher costs.
With supplementary dental insurance for children, you can close this gap in provision safely and cost-effectively. In addition, a private children’s dental insurance can cover additional benefits that are not included in the GKV’s regular benefits catalogue. This includes, for example, sealing molars.
The most important insurances
At what age should I take out supplementary child dental insurance?
It is advisable to take out supplementary dental insurance for children from the age of three. At this age, the dentition with the milk teeth is fully developed and there are usually no orthodontic treatments pending.
A relatively early conclusion of a private supplementary insurance for the teeth of your children is important, because the orthodontic insurance no longer pays if a diagnosis of a tooth malposition by the dentist is already present. Since you have to state exactly which treatments or diagnoses are available in the health questions, you should act as early as possible and take care of a dental supplementary insurance.
Although there is supplementary child dental insurance without a waiting period and without a health check, orthodontic treatment is excluded if a malocclusion has already been diagnosed.
What also speaks in favour of taking out the insurance in early years: the tariffs include not only protection for orthodontic treatments but also other benefits that are not covered by the SHI system. If you already use your insurance, part of your premiums will already pay for themselves.
Example: Sealing of premolars (small anterior molars)
While the sealing of the large posterior molars is taken over by the GKV, the statutory health insurances do not pay for the sealing of the premolars. This treatment is listed as a private service in the benefits catalogue. Thus, dentists can demand 2.3 to 3.5 times the rate of the dentists’ fee schedule (GOZ), which can cost between 93.12 and 141.76 euros. If you use the reimbursement benefit of your supplementary child dental insurance for this treatment alone, several monthly contributions have already paid off.
Further benefit cases for which supplementary dental insurance is already worthwhile in childhood:
Supplementary dental insurance for children: costs and tariffs
In order to find the cheapest and best insurance, a comparison of supplementary dental insurance for children is indispensable. Independent consumer organisations and specialist magazines have already tested supplementary dental insurances for children. Many supplementary insurance products have performed well with Stiftung Warentest.
Good supplementary child dental insurance starts for just under 10 euros a month. wefox will help you find the best insurance for your child. The number of insurers offering high-performance policies has grown considerably. It is not always easy for consumers to find the best solution.
Our wefox experts will help you with questions such as:
- Which supplementary dental insurances are recommended for children?
- Which is the cheapest children’s dental insurance with the best benefit for orthodontic treatment?
- Which supplementary dental insurance offers my child the widest range of benefits?
- Are there also family tariffs that include supplementary child dental insurance?
- Has supplementary dental insurance for children scored particularly well in the test?