Costs for tooth cleaning very different

Costs for professional teeth cleaning very different

05/22/2013

Professional teeth cleaning is recommended by almost all dentists. However, the cleaning measure is not listed as a pension benefit in the catalog of benefits of the statutory health insurance, which is why the teeth cleaning must be paid out of pocket. The private dental supplement insurance rarely pay the full cost. The costs of the dentist are very different. Between 40 and 250 euros is the range, reports the consumer center Rhineland-Palatinate. Whether there is any medical benefit is still a matter of dispute. Nevertheless, dental practices recommend the procedure, even to take additional money.

The costs for a dental cleaning in dental surgeries are very different. Only in a few exceptions, the statutory health insurance companies or dental insurers take over the costs. The determined the market check of the consumer center Rhineland-Palatinate.

The experts surveyed 39 dental practices 57 statutory health insurance companies and 27 private supplementary insurers. As a first result, the consumer advocates found that the dental practices require very different fees. "Between 40 and 250 euros for a professional teeth cleaning, that's the range of practices".

Professional teeth cleaning no basic health insurance
"Professional teeth cleaning is one of the individual health services (hedgehogs), the doctors promote hedgehog offer," says the health expert Julika Unger, from the consumer center. "Patients have to pay for it themselves." The fee schedule stipulates that the costs are based on the number of teeth of the patient and how extensive or complicated the dental cleaning measures are. It is also crucial to what rate of increase the dentist settles. The practice can calculate either 1.0 times, 2.3 times or even an even higher rising factor. Depending on the billing rate, cleaning 28 teeth may cost less than 50 euros or more than 150 euros. It may happen that patients pay three times for the same treatment.

Sixty-two percent of the health insurance companies said they were at least partially involved in the costs of cleaning their teeth. The majority of health insurances will pay only if the patient has a specific dentist. Some health insurances even cover the full costs, but the majority grants only subsidies between 13 and 75 euros per treatment or year.

In the course of the evaluation, the consumer advocates also took a closer look at the supplementary insurers. A total of 27 private supplementary insurers were surveyed. These offer a total of 126 different rates with teeth cleaning. Only five of the surveyed insurers claim to pay the cleaning costs completely. 16 companies only pay the full amount if the therapy costs between 50 and 150 euros. Most tariffs only provide a lower percentage and limit the maximum amount in different ways. Some tariffs make the performance dependent on an advance of the statutory health insurance.

Medical benefit not proven
In dentistry, the medical benefits of professional teeth cleaning are debated. For example, the medical service of the central association of health insurance companies assessed the cleaning of teeth in adults without the degradation of the periodontal apparatus in the IGEL monitor as "unclear". As justification, the team of doctors and researchers stated that there are no verifiable studies that prove useful. On the other hand, there is also no evidence that the teeth cleaning could do any harm. However, the only proven fact is that after the procedure "the teeth shine white again". (Sb)

Also read:
Professional teeth cleaning without benefit?
Dentists: rip off teeth cleaning?
Tongue covering the most common cause of bad breath
Dentist pulled teeth without present indicators?

Picture: Heike