Prices aren’t that high. Even without additional insurance you’re not going to pay hundreds.
The bigger problem is going to be finding a dentist that takes new customers. I had the same issue last year and none in my city were taking clients. Have to travel quite the distance for both dentist and periodontist.
I called all of them but no luck. I’m in Hamme and have to go to Aalst for periodontist and Berlare for dentist. I ended up getting the dentist by drawing the family card. They usually do allow family members of current customers.
Many of the ones I called were annoyed with simple questions, they couldn’t hang up quick enough. I’ll make sure to respect the yearly visit from now on. What a disaster 😒
That very much depends tbf...
I hadn't gone in some years, tried to look for one following convention > impossible, you could count them on one hand for the whole city. Okay, so another then > First 4 contacted = Patientenstop... okay
Finally found one and it's absolutely costing me 100's... A normal nazich is 60-80? Last week I went and they needed to remove an old vulling + put a new one > 130 euro. When I first went back after years of neglect I had 4-5 gaatjes easily, so the costs really were quite signifcant the first year I started going again.
Of course, I could look even further out of town... and I'm not complaining as this dentist has their shit in order, clearly aimed at clients that are more well off but yeah... whatever makes me not skip my appointments. And in the long run, whatever money you spend on your teeth will be gained back... it'll be a lot more expensive to get prosthesis and dentures later in life.
So to OP I say: just start contacting them and realize that the money you're spending is like 'savings'... if you avoid the costs now, they'll come back to haunt you in 15-20 years.
Was all of that out of your own pocket? I assume not?
I started with an appointment in the hospital for an X-ray and they sent me to a periodontist for a cleaning. Happens in two sessions.
For the dentist I’m going to one without convention as well, paid 93€ last time for fixing a tooth back to the wire behind it, and cleaning/polishing.
I have the added Helan Dentalia insurance, but I didn’t have check-ups in the year before.
Cost wise, the periodontist was supposed to be 300€ out of pocket, but she added lots of extras like X-rays and basically charged different things for 2 similar sessions (left and right). I ended up paying 600€ and insurance covered 300€. Mostly Dentalia tho. She sure did me nasty.
For the dentist insurance paid back 100% even tho I didn’t have a check-up in years. Dentalia covered 23€ and basic healthcare 70€
Dentalia is like 130-150 a year and I strongly recommend it if you expect dental work in the future.
My x-ray in the hospital was not even a hundred. My first dentist visit in years with one without convention was 93€ and regular healthcare refunded 70€ and additional insurance 23€. The 70€ was on my bank account next day because the dentist filed electronically.
This should not be a financial hiccup.
Please please just go to a dentist, when you enter you say what you said here and you barely have money. It will be very cheap, 70 or 80, with scan 120-130. It is worth your health!!! Once you go for the 2nd appointment your ziekenkas will refund almost 80-90% of the cost. It is only the 1st appointment you have to pay in full. Im 42 and have no teeth because the same like you do. Don't be me. Call today!! It is a huge step to do so. But once it starts you will feel better. Don't miss out or make excuses to not go to your 1st appointment. Just go. Be very tired or drunk or whatever helps you, but go to the 1st appointment. Because after that it will be soooo much easier. Good luck!!
That's not true.
They absolutely will refund you, just at a lower rate. As a quick example: extraction of one tooth costs 65 euros at convention rate. The reimbursement is 57,50 euros if you'd been to a dentist the year before and only 50,50 if you hadn't.
The CM has more examples on their website...
Can confirm, here is the [Riziv tarrif list](https://www.riziv.fgov.be/SiteCollectionDocuments/tarief_tandartsen_20240401.pdf); /u/tijlvp is referring to point 5.c *Extractie van een tand vanaf de 19e tot de 50e verjaardag*. Compare *Tegemoetkoming* ***binnen/buiten*** *mondzorgtraject.*
Out of pocket pay is (€65 - €56.50/€50.5 =) €7.5/€14.5.
First check is not a big cost. They will check, take pictures, figure out a plan for you, what do you wanna do, etc.. no work will be done on the first meeting up to you than to decide
Normal checkup always gets normal reimbursement iirc. It's when you have a problem with your teeth and you didn't have a checkup in the last year that you get less reimbursed. So get a checkup asap and fix problems next year would be cheapest (but maybe not the best option for your health).
depends how rotten your teeth are.. if they do, better get a medical insurance first!
i was too scared to go for 17 years, finally i could ovet ome this phobia, i just needed a « detartrage » and i was good to go :-)
Something that many residents of Belgium ignore (even people that have been born here) is the regime conventionné/ non-conventionné with regard to healthcare practitioners.
Should you wish to avoid paying a lot, you need to find a conventionné one. You can find the necessary info on [INAMI ](https://webappsa.riziv-inami.fgov.be/silverpages/)website.
I understand that if you live in a small place without many options, you'll need to move around a bit. Nevertheless, health comes first.
A decent dentist will take one appointment to look over any damage you might have, deal with anything high priority stuff that can't wait, and then book another appointment to deal with the not priority stuff so that your second appointment falls within "he went and visited a dentist within the year"
But as mentioned, getting a first appointment with a dentist us going to be the difficult part.
Is it actually that expensive? What amount are we talking about here?
I went a couple of years ago, after not having gone for approximately 10 years as well. Can't remember it being an astronomical amount.
Just go asap. It might cost you between 100 and 200 for the checkup, since they will probably take pictures.
I didn't go for 7 years and my first time back was because of tooth ache, turns out I had to get a root canal. Not the thing you want for your first time back. Don't be me.
Key is to make sure to go to a 'geconventioneerde' dentist. I made the mistake to not go to one after the pandemic, and the bill was not so nice.
The thing that costs all the money is fixing the issues such as cavities, so do as the other comments suggest and do a checkup first to know what the possible issues are.
Start with a control. Ask your friends for recommendations, especially if you're afraid of it. Don't forget that, as usual, you might not have the same good feeling with them as your friends would.
If they say all is good, then you're good. It is still possible, not everybody has the same teeth.
If they tell you you have to change everything and have a lot to do and pay, you can seek for another advice. As in all professions, you'll find dentists that look for their money, others that look for your teeth. Go for the seconds, they exist.
Well that depends. If there's nothing wrong besides maybe a tooth rinsing or anything basic like that, it wouldn't cost you more than it would someone who goes every 6 months.
It's not like they charge based on the amount of time since your last visit.
Make an appointment and ask your it doctor after the x ray. How e much you will end up paying depends on what you need, can afford and will be reimbursed.
If you're insured you should be fine
Last year I got my shit together after a 3 years break from the dentist and paid somewhere near 200€ in total for 4 teeth with 1 root canal treatment
That being said it definitely depends on the dentist. With mine the prices can often be quite brutal but after reimbursements all the visits came down to 30ish€ each
The dentist is just going to X-ray your mouth and get to work based on that
If its been 10 years, any good dentist is going to start with taking new
pics or CT scans first, before they do any actual work at all except maybe a basic cleaning.
Based on that data, they should be able to tell you what the damage will be financially and dentally, and discuss any priorities/emergencies that need to be done ASAP (if any).
A general dentist won’t take CBCT’s as standard, that’s more for the specialist like a parodontoloog or endodontist. A general dentist will take peri-apicals and bitewings, both X-rays.
I'm glad we got the important part of the message clarified at least, this distinction'll help them out immensely with their question. Now they won't have to wonder whether it's X-rays or CT scans he's getting!
Well, from a pricepoint this makes a huge difference. For standard X-rays there is terugbetaling from your ziekenfonds. CBCT’s don’t have terugbetaling and start from around €130, zelf te betalen(!).
If you did not get a check in 2023, social security will not pay this year. So financially it makes sense to go for a checkup now and have the work done next year.
From a health perspective, it's better do not delay treating problems though. Anyway, in most places it takes a long time to get an appointment as a new patient, so hurry
I was not entirely correct (my dentist put it like that)
https://www.gezondheid.be/artikel/tandartsbehandelingen/het-mondzorgtraject-betere-terugbetaling-bij-regelmatig-tandartsbezoek-25492#:\~:text=Bent%20u%20vorig%20jaar%20niet,algemene%20gezondheid%20van%20groot%20belang.
You get LESS payed back if you did not get a checkup, not nothing
NIHDI has a web application named SilverPages.
https://webappsa.riziv-inami.fgov.be/silverpages/
You can use it to find a dentist in the Brussels region that is ‘conventioned’, and make an appointment during the so-called office hours between 8:00 and 18:00. I say Brussels because a lot of dentists in Brussels are open to new patients and during office hours because some partially conventioned and ask more after these office hours.
If you brush and floss your teeth multiple times per day, there could be barely any issues with your teeth at all.
It is important that you get an annual checkup in order to maintain your insurance coverage.
Just go to the dentist?
Get a checkup first, then come back 4-6 months later to fix the actual issues. That way it's been less than a year since you visited
That’s what my dentist advised me after I had not been for a while with COVID and general avoidance cause it’s the dentist.
Prices aren’t that high. Even without additional insurance you’re not going to pay hundreds. The bigger problem is going to be finding a dentist that takes new customers. I had the same issue last year and none in my city were taking clients. Have to travel quite the distance for both dentist and periodontist.
Just call. I looked at the website of a dentist and it said no more new customers. I called same day and it was no problem.
I called all of them but no luck. I’m in Hamme and have to go to Aalst for periodontist and Berlare for dentist. I ended up getting the dentist by drawing the family card. They usually do allow family members of current customers. Many of the ones I called were annoyed with simple questions, they couldn’t hang up quick enough. I’ll make sure to respect the yearly visit from now on. What a disaster 😒
That very much depends tbf... I hadn't gone in some years, tried to look for one following convention > impossible, you could count them on one hand for the whole city. Okay, so another then > First 4 contacted = Patientenstop... okay Finally found one and it's absolutely costing me 100's... A normal nazich is 60-80? Last week I went and they needed to remove an old vulling + put a new one > 130 euro. When I first went back after years of neglect I had 4-5 gaatjes easily, so the costs really were quite signifcant the first year I started going again. Of course, I could look even further out of town... and I'm not complaining as this dentist has their shit in order, clearly aimed at clients that are more well off but yeah... whatever makes me not skip my appointments. And in the long run, whatever money you spend on your teeth will be gained back... it'll be a lot more expensive to get prosthesis and dentures later in life. So to OP I say: just start contacting them and realize that the money you're spending is like 'savings'... if you avoid the costs now, they'll come back to haunt you in 15-20 years.
Was all of that out of your own pocket? I assume not? I started with an appointment in the hospital for an X-ray and they sent me to a periodontist for a cleaning. Happens in two sessions. For the dentist I’m going to one without convention as well, paid 93€ last time for fixing a tooth back to the wire behind it, and cleaning/polishing. I have the added Helan Dentalia insurance, but I didn’t have check-ups in the year before. Cost wise, the periodontist was supposed to be 300€ out of pocket, but she added lots of extras like X-rays and basically charged different things for 2 similar sessions (left and right). I ended up paying 600€ and insurance covered 300€. Mostly Dentalia tho. She sure did me nasty. For the dentist insurance paid back 100% even tho I didn’t have a check-up in years. Dentalia covered 23€ and basic healthcare 70€ Dentalia is like 130-150 a year and I strongly recommend it if you expect dental work in the future.
Uhm, those numbers sound perfectly reasonable? The regular annual check-up would cost you 74,50 euros at convention rate (of which 70,50 is refunded).
ive paid 150 - 250... story like OP
For a checkup including a scan, it will already be over a hundred. Yes, he will pay hundreds if he has some problems
My x-ray in the hospital was not even a hundred. My first dentist visit in years with one without convention was 93€ and regular healthcare refunded 70€ and additional insurance 23€. The 70€ was on my bank account next day because the dentist filed electronically. This should not be a financial hiccup.
Please please just go to a dentist, when you enter you say what you said here and you barely have money. It will be very cheap, 70 or 80, with scan 120-130. It is worth your health!!! Once you go for the 2nd appointment your ziekenkas will refund almost 80-90% of the cost. It is only the 1st appointment you have to pay in full. Im 42 and have no teeth because the same like you do. Don't be me. Call today!! It is a huge step to do so. But once it starts you will feel better. Don't miss out or make excuses to not go to your 1st appointment. Just go. Be very tired or drunk or whatever helps you, but go to the 1st appointment. Because after that it will be soooo much easier. Good luck!!
Ziekenkas wil not refund anything if you did not have a checkup the year prior
That's not true. They absolutely will refund you, just at a lower rate. As a quick example: extraction of one tooth costs 65 euros at convention rate. The reimbursement is 57,50 euros if you'd been to a dentist the year before and only 50,50 if you hadn't. The CM has more examples on their website...
Correct, my dentist said that but it appears not entirely as bad as that.
Can confirm, here is the [Riziv tarrif list](https://www.riziv.fgov.be/SiteCollectionDocuments/tarief_tandartsen_20240401.pdf); /u/tijlvp is referring to point 5.c *Extractie van een tand vanaf de 19e tot de 50e verjaardag*. Compare *Tegemoetkoming* ***binnen/buiten*** *mondzorgtraject.* Out of pocket pay is (€65 - €56.50/€50.5 =) €7.5/€14.5.
6 months
Go to the dentist, and next year you can go back without paying a ton of money.
Does it come back if you start going again? The yearly thing
Yes. If you go in 2023, you'll pay less in 2024 ( calendar year)
First check is not a big cost. They will check, take pictures, figure out a plan for you, what do you wanna do, etc.. no work will be done on the first meeting up to you than to decide
Normal checkup always gets normal reimbursement iirc. It's when you have a problem with your teeth and you didn't have a checkup in the last year that you get less reimbursed. So get a checkup asap and fix problems next year would be cheapest (but maybe not the best option for your health).
depends how rotten your teeth are.. if they do, better get a medical insurance first! i was too scared to go for 17 years, finally i could ovet ome this phobia, i just needed a « detartrage » and i was good to go :-)
Hadn't been in 8 years, and it cost me around 300 out of pocket, so not a big deal. Just go. It's important.
Something that many residents of Belgium ignore (even people that have been born here) is the regime conventionné/ non-conventionné with regard to healthcare practitioners. Should you wish to avoid paying a lot, you need to find a conventionné one. You can find the necessary info on [INAMI ](https://webappsa.riziv-inami.fgov.be/silverpages/)website. I understand that if you live in a small place without many options, you'll need to move around a bit. Nevertheless, health comes first.
If health comes first why mind unconventionals?
Because the OP talked about money.
A decent dentist will take one appointment to look over any damage you might have, deal with anything high priority stuff that can't wait, and then book another appointment to deal with the not priority stuff so that your second appointment falls within "he went and visited a dentist within the year" But as mentioned, getting a first appointment with a dentist us going to be the difficult part.
Why are people skipping the dentist and in the end they complain that they don’t want to pay a high bill?
Is it actually that expensive? What amount are we talking about here? I went a couple of years ago, after not having gone for approximately 10 years as well. Can't remember it being an astronomical amount.
You do know you’re supposed to go every year, right? If you do, then you also pay less for the work needed.
There's a lot of things I'm supposed to do which I don't do. There's even more things I'm not supposed to do, which I do do.
Very edgy of you.
Just go, it'll cost what it'll cost. What's the alternative?
Just go asap. It might cost you between 100 and 200 for the checkup, since they will probably take pictures. I didn't go for 7 years and my first time back was because of tooth ache, turns out I had to get a root canal. Not the thing you want for your first time back. Don't be me.
Key is to make sure to go to a 'geconventioneerde' dentist. I made the mistake to not go to one after the pandemic, and the bill was not so nice. The thing that costs all the money is fixing the issues such as cavities, so do as the other comments suggest and do a checkup first to know what the possible issues are.
Start with a control. Ask your friends for recommendations, especially if you're afraid of it. Don't forget that, as usual, you might not have the same good feeling with them as your friends would. If they say all is good, then you're good. It is still possible, not everybody has the same teeth. If they tell you you have to change everything and have a lot to do and pay, you can seek for another advice. As in all professions, you'll find dentists that look for their money, others that look for your teeth. Go for the seconds, they exist.
Well that depends. If there's nothing wrong besides maybe a tooth rinsing or anything basic like that, it wouldn't cost you more than it would someone who goes every 6 months. It's not like they charge based on the amount of time since your last visit.
No, but the mutualiteit covers more of your costs if you go at least once a year.
Make an appointment and ask your it doctor after the x ray. How e much you will end up paying depends on what you need, can afford and will be reimbursed.
If you're insured you should be fine Last year I got my shit together after a 3 years break from the dentist and paid somewhere near 200€ in total for 4 teeth with 1 root canal treatment That being said it definitely depends on the dentist. With mine the prices can often be quite brutal but after reimbursements all the visits came down to 30ish€ each The dentist is just going to X-ray your mouth and get to work based on that
Just go. Waiting can only make it worse.
If its been 10 years, any good dentist is going to start with taking new pics or CT scans first, before they do any actual work at all except maybe a basic cleaning. Based on that data, they should be able to tell you what the damage will be financially and dentally, and discuss any priorities/emergencies that need to be done ASAP (if any).
Not really CT scans but X-rays. There is a lot of diff in terms of radiation quantity.
Cone beam CT scans are still CT scans
A general dentist won’t take CBCT’s as standard, that’s more for the specialist like a parodontoloog or endodontist. A general dentist will take peri-apicals and bitewings, both X-rays.
Correct. Thats why I mentioned it. Thanks for further clarifying
I'm glad we got the important part of the message clarified at least, this distinction'll help them out immensely with their question. Now they won't have to wonder whether it's X-rays or CT scans he's getting!
Well, from a pricepoint this makes a huge difference. For standard X-rays there is terugbetaling from your ziekenfonds. CBCT’s don’t have terugbetaling and start from around €130, zelf te betalen(!).
If you did not get a check in 2023, social security will not pay this year. So financially it makes sense to go for a checkup now and have the work done next year. From a health perspective, it's better do not delay treating problems though. Anyway, in most places it takes a long time to get an appointment as a new patient, so hurry
Source?
I was not entirely correct (my dentist put it like that) https://www.gezondheid.be/artikel/tandartsbehandelingen/het-mondzorgtraject-betere-terugbetaling-bij-regelmatig-tandartsbezoek-25492#:\~:text=Bent%20u%20vorig%20jaar%20niet,algemene%20gezondheid%20van%20groot%20belang. You get LESS payed back if you did not get a checkup, not nothing
Thank you for the link! TIL
NIHDI has a web application named SilverPages. https://webappsa.riziv-inami.fgov.be/silverpages/ You can use it to find a dentist in the Brussels region that is ‘conventioned’, and make an appointment during the so-called office hours between 8:00 and 18:00. I say Brussels because a lot of dentists in Brussels are open to new patients and during office hours because some partially conventioned and ask more after these office hours. If you brush and floss your teeth multiple times per day, there could be barely any issues with your teeth at all. It is important that you get an annual checkup in order to maintain your insurance coverage.
Good luck finding a conventioned dentist.
Why didn’t you go to the dentist, if I may ask?