The short answer
If you are insured in the statutory system (gesetzliche Krankenversicherung, GKV) — as roughly 90 % of people in Germany are — your fund pays for a routine check-up in each calendar half-year — two a year, at least four months apart — and for the removal of tartar (Zahnstein) once per calendar year. Children and teenagers get considerably more. A professional cleaning (professionelle Zahnreinigung, PZR) is normally not in that package: it is a private service, even though many funds now contribute to it voluntarily. The check-up matters for a second reason that most newcomers miss entirely — it earns the yearly stamp in your bonus booklet (Bonusheft), and that booklet decides how much the fund pays years later if you ever need a crown, a bridge or a denture. On a single tooth in 2026, the gap between an empty booklet and ten unbroken years of stamps is about 138 €.
The two things your fund pays for every single year
German dental prevention for adults is narrower than people expect, but what it does cover is genuinely worth collecting.
The routine check-up (Kontrolluntersuchung). Twice a year — once in each calendar half-year, with at least four months in between — you can sit in the chair, have your teeth and gums looked over, and pay nothing. The bonus booklet needs only one of those visits, which is why most people believe the cover stops at one. The dentist checks for caries, looks at the gums, examines existing fillings and crowns, and takes X-rays where the finding calls for them. This is a look-and-assess appointment, not a cleaning appointment — a point that catches out almost everyone arriving from the UK, where a check-up and a scale-and-polish often happen in the same half hour. If something is found and needs treating, that treatment is covered on its own terms; the free check-up does not become chargeable because the dentist found something.
Tartar removal (Zahnsteinentfernung) once per calendar year. Your fund pays for the hardened deposits above the gumline to be scaled off once a year. This is a genuine benefit and you should use it. What it is not is a full professional cleaning: it removes visible hard deposits, but it does not include the systematic cleaning of every interdental space, the polishing, the fluoride varnish, or the work in the pockets below the gumline that a PZR involves. Two different appointments, two different price tags, and the names sound confusingly similar in both languages.
If a tooth starts hurting between visits, that is not prevention — that is treatment, and treatment is covered separately. You never have to wait for your annual slot because something has gone wrong.
The Bonusheft: five minutes a year, real money later
The Bonusheft is a small booklet, roughly the size of a passport, that your dentist stamps once per calendar year when you attend your check-up. Teenagers between 12 and 17 collect two stamps a year, one per half-year. There is nothing to fill in and nothing to send anywhere — you simply bring it, or ask for one at reception if you have never had it. Some funds now keep it digitally in their app; ask yours which version they accept.
The point of the booklet only becomes visible years later. When you need dentures or fixed prosthetics (Zahnersatz) — a crown, a bridge, a denture, or the crown on top of an implant — the fund does not pay a percentage of your bill. It pays a fixed subsidy (Festzuschuss): a set amount calculated from what the standard care option (Regelversorgung) for that finding would cost. Whatever you choose above that standard, you pay the difference. And the size of that fixed amount depends on your booklet.
| Your Bonusheft | Share of the standard-care cost the fund pays | Fixed subsidy for one tooth (2026, finding 2.1) |
|---|---|---|
| no unbroken record of visits | 60 % | 552.96 € |
| stamps for 5 consecutive years | 70 % | 645.12 € |
| stamps for 10 consecutive years | 75 % | 691.20 € |
| hardship provision (Härtefallregelung), low income | up to 100 % | 921.60 € |
Read the right-hand column again. Five years of stamps is worth about 92 € on a single crown compared with an empty booklet; ten years is worth about 138 €. On a larger piece of work involving several teeth, those differences multiply, because the subsidy is calculated per finding rather than per patient.
One gap resets everything. The higher tiers require an unbroken run. Miss one calendar year — you were abroad, you changed cities, you simply forgot — and the count starts again from zero. This is the single most expensive administrative mistake I see international patients make in Wuppertal, and it costs nothing to avoid.
A stamp comes from the check-up, not from the cleaning. A professional cleaning is a fine thing to have, but on its own it does not fill your booklet. Book the check-up.
Where the professional cleaning sits — and why it is private
A professional cleaning is not covered by the statutory package for adults as a standard benefit. That is a decision made at system level, not something your dentist chose, and it applies across Germany.
Three things soften it:
- Voluntary subsidies (Satzungsleistungen). A large number of statutory funds now pay a yearly contribution towards a professional cleaning, either as a fixed amount or as a share of the invoice. The amounts differ from fund to fund and change from year to year, so the only reliable answer is the one you get from your own fund — search their site for “professionelle Zahnreinigung Zuschuss” or ask by email in English, which most of the big funds handle.
- Supplementary dental insurance (Zahnzusatzversicherung). Depending on the tariff, these policies typically reimburse somewhere between a share set by the tariff of dental costs, and most include an annual allowance for cleanings. Read what the tariff says about waiting periods before you sign.
- Private insurance (private Krankenversicherung, PKV). Cover depends entirely on your tariff; many include prophylaxis once or twice a year.
The cleaning itself is billed under the fee schedule for dentists (GOZ), generally according to how many teeth are treated and how much work each one takes. That means there is no single national price, and a mouth with heavy deposits legitimately costs more to clean than a mouth without them. Ask for the amount before the appointment rather than after it — any practice should be able to tell you.
Children, pregnancy and care-dependent patients get more
The statutory system is noticeably more generous the younger the patient — which is welcome news for relocating families.
Small children. From the first tooth onwards, early-detection appointments (Früherkennungsuntersuchungen, “FU”) are covered, with the emphasis on diet, fluoride and getting the child used to the chair before anything ever needs doing.
Ages 6 to 17. This is the individual prophylaxis programme (Individualprophylaxe, “IP”): twice-yearly sessions covering oral hygiene instruction, cleaning technique, fluoride varnish and — importantly — fissure sealing (Fissurenversiegelung) of the permanent back molars, which is fully covered. In effect, children receive something close to a prophylaxis programme on the fund’s account, while their parents pay for theirs.
Pregnancy. Additional preventive appointments are covered during pregnancy and after the birth, because hormonal changes make the gums react more strongly to plaque. If you are pregnant, say so when you book — it changes what you are entitled to and how we plan the appointment.
Care-dependent patients and people with a disability. Anyone with an assessed care level (Pflegegrad) or a corresponding entitlement has additional preventive benefits, including an individual oral-hygiene plan and the removal of hard deposits twice a year rather than once.
Periodontitis is a separate entitlement — not prophylaxis
This distinction saves people a lot of money and confusion. Gum disease (Parodontitis) that has been diagnosed and documented is treated as a medical condition, not as prevention, and the statutory funds cover a structured course of treatment: the diagnosis and measurement of the pockets, a preliminary discussion, the cleaning of the root surfaces below the gumline, and a follow-up programme (unterstützende Parodontitistherapie, UPT) that runs over roughly two years afterwards.
So if you have been told you have periodontitis, do not assume you must fund everything privately. The therapy is covered when the finding justifies it; the routine cleanings you have in the years before and after it are not. More on that split in Can a professional cleaning stop gum disease before it starts?.
What to check with your fund — and what to ask us
If you are new to Germany, or your German is limited
Two practical points. First, the entitlements above are attached to your insurance, not to your German. You do not need to argue for them or know their names — bring your health insurance card (Gesundheitskarte / eGK) and ask for the yearly check-up.
Second, if the barrier is the phone call, look for a practice that treats in your language and say so when you book. We work in English every day, alongside German, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Arabic, Kurdish and French, and there is a broader overview of how to navigate this in English-Speaking Dentist in NRW. Booking a check-up you understand beats skipping a check-up you dread — and the booklet does not stamp itself.
No. The stamp comes from the annual check-up. If you only ever attend cleanings and never book a check-up, your booklet stays empty and you remain on the 60 % tier. Many people combine the two on the same day — perfectly sensible, and worth asking for when you ring.
For the bonus tiers, yes — the record is built from dated stamps by a dentist in Germany. Start this calendar year rather than next, because the five-year clock only begins when the first stamp exists. Your fund can confirm what it accepts as proof.
No, and the two get confused constantly. The covered service removes hard deposits above the gumline. A professional cleaning is a longer, systematic appointment that also addresses the spaces between the teeth, the accessible areas just below the gum margin, polishing and fluoride. Different scope, different billing.
Usually you pay the practice, receive the invoice, and send it to the fund — often through their app. Some funds reimburse only against a form you download first, so check the route before your appointment and keep the original invoice.
No. The booklet belongs to you, not to the practice, and any dentist in Germany can stamp it. What matters is one documented visit per calendar year, without gaps.
Possibly. A draft law discussed at federal level in 2026 (GKV-Beitragssatzstabilisierungsgesetz) proposes lowering the tiers to 50 / 60 / 65 %, while keeping the 100 % hardship provision. It passed cabinet on 29 April 2026 but has not been through the Bundestag or Bundesrat, so nothing has changed yet. It is a proposal, not law — and if anything, it is an argument for keeping your booklet current rather than letting it lapse.
Statutory dental prevention in Germany is a modest package that pays back far beyond its size: a check-up in each calendar half-year, tartar removed once a year, and a stamp — needed only once a year — that quietly raises the fund’s contribution from 60 % to 75 % of standard care over a decade. The professional cleaning sits outside that package for adults and is normally yours to fund, with help from many funds and most supplementary policies. Children, pregnant patients and people with a care level are covered more generously. Everything else follows from one habit: book the check-up, every calendar year, without a gap.
Zahnarztpraxis Tsypin · Wuppertal. This article was medically reviewed and is provided for information; it does not replace an examination. Updated August 2026.
