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When getting a dental prosthesis, the technical services (laboratory expenses) often account for more than 50 percent of your total costs. These high costs are mainly due to the fat prices of many dental laboratories in Germany.
In order to prevent an arbitrary escalation
of the prices, the health insurance companies and the dental technicians' guilds have agreed on a so-called "maximum price list" (BEL II). Unfortunately, beginning with 01.01.2004 and then again with 01.01.2005, many higher-value dental treatments have been deleted from the list.
Higher-value services, such as implants, veneers, inlays, attachments, telescopes, plating, bridges, bolts, armatures, full-ceramic, ceramic dressings, free-end bridges and even cosmetic and individual solutions were never part of the list or are not part of it anymore. Moreover, many labs charge the maximum price even
for the basic treatment with metal, which has still remained on the BEL II. In plain language: the maximum price is the standard price.
In the course of our efforts, we have found dental laboratories which are breaking new ground in Germany. These laboratories don't consider themselves
the dentists' vicarious agents, but rather their equal partners. Together as a team, dentists and dental labs are aiming to provide optimal and at the same time inexpensive treatments for patients. Some dental labs have outsourced parts of their manufacturing process abroad, which reduces
costs without reducing the quality. The warranty has been extended from 2 to 5 years. Even the Verband der Angestelltenkrankenkassen (Germ. VdAk) has followed in their footsteps.
Unfortunately, many dentists want to hang on to their old dental labs. "Honi soit qui mal y pense." If your dentist is one of them, try to negotiate with him first. Bring forward arguments: It is not a question of his preferences or business connections, but
rather a question of your costs - you could save a couple of hundred or even thousand Euros. Mention the 5-year warranty (elsewhere in Germany only 2 years) and the already enduring presence of these dental labs on the German market. After all, you are not criticising his professional abilities
as a dentist, you're only discussing the economic matter of price and quality - and you are the one paying the price.
In order to avoid a complete shipwreck, many dentists portray themselves as "noble preservers of German jobs" or argue simply that they have principles to which
they wish to stick.
When all is in vain: Change your dentist - our Price comparison for prostheses helps
Strictly speaking, the dentist charges a fee for his services, and the dental laboratory charges for the lab expenses. The question remains, why would your dentist care about protecting the dental lab's high income?
A dentist who would simply ignore your justified wish ... that dentist never was, perhaps,
the right doctor you could trust. Because it was exactly blind trust that has made scandals such as Globudent possible!
So when negotiating, don't be easily scared off.
The one who pays should decide! You can also receive support from the dental labs involved in our price comparison.
In Denmark, the quota of dental prostheses manufactured abroad has already reached 80 %. And nobody would ever consider a BMW or Mercedes bad simply because a subcontractor is producing abroad.
Our Price comparison
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