I have been living in Switzerland for several years and have never been to a dentist here before. Every year, I go home on holiday, where I have a regular dental check-up with a cleaning and any necessary treatment. The other day, a very old dental filling fell out of my tooth, and, unfortunately, I won't be able to go home in the coming months to get it treated. And the tooth will not wait. I have heard many different horror stories about dental treatment in Switzerland. That Swiss dentists' favorite treatment for teeth with cavities is to pull them out, or if they do fill them with dental filling, it is not always done with high quality, and that dental treatment in general costs like an aeroplane wing… I basically live from paycheck to paycheck, so the last point scares me probably the most. How much should I expect to pay? And maybe someone can advise me on a competent specialist in the canton of Zurich, approximately in the Winterthur area? Thank you in advance.

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by Background-War7518

31 comments

  2. Do you live near the border by any chance? Go in Germany or Italy.

  3. You can go for getting an objection first and they create a “Kostemvoranschlag” so a predicated cost, which will be +/- 10% of the endprice usually.

    Last time I paid for 2 new fillings around 1000chf

  4. Dentists are usually good but it cost way too much for my budget and of course it s not covered by the health insurance mafia …

    I just came back from Brazil, I got 2 wisdom tooth taken out by a dental surgeon of top class for at least half of what I would have pay in Switzerland. I now get all my dental care and glasses made there.

    I hope you get a way to get treatment for a cheap price.

  5. Go to germany, hungary or something else if possible, dentists in switzerland are only worth it if your parents thought about an insurance while you were a child or if you are rich, if you live paycheck to paycheck don‘t even think about visiting a dentist here if you‘re not in an emergency situation. My left side of my face has swollen once because a dentist made a mistake and only filled one of two holes and i had to pay 1800 fr. to get it right again.

  6. You can expect to be legally robbed. Frankly I don’t have too many good experiences with dentists in Switzerland, lots of them are judgmental and very arrogant.

    That being said, if you need to do it around here, I’d personally go to a University clinic as there you can have it a bit cheaper if students do it. You can usually also have it done there by professors and such, then you pay a normal price. My one good experience with dentists in Switzerland has been at the University clinic in Bern, there is one in Zurich too, with rather good reviews if you search for it.

    That being said, always ask for a Kostenvoranschlag.

  7. Try one of the dental clinics in Jestetten or Gottmadingen.

  8. There are dozens of threads asking the same thing, you can use the search button

  9. See if there is a dentist school near you, the prices are anywhere between 25 to 70% less expensive (at least that’s the case in Geneva).

  10. Go to the University Of Zurich Dental Centre:
    https://zzm.uzh.ch/en.html

    They have a walk-in clinic.

    I had severe dentist anxiety for years. I went there and told them about my fears. These people are trained to deal with such patients. Took my anxiety almost completely, they are very empathetic during procedures.

    Since then I only go there. You can also be upfront about your financial situation.

  11. A filling cost me like 250 per tooth.
    And the treatment here is way better than I was used to even from Germany.

  14. Avoid using Swiss Dentists. When I lived in Geneva I went to a dentist and she said I had around 3000 CHF worth of fillings to do. I then had vacations planned in Ireland, so I decided to get a 2nd opinion while there. The dentist there said 1 filling needed to be done, it cost me 75 Euros. One year later, I did the same but in Portugal, and she said I had 2 filling that needed attention, it cost me 80 Euros for both.

    So yes, expect to be robbed in Switzerland.

  15. If you can’t go to Germany to a dentist, I can recommend Martin Nguyen at the Zahnärzte am Central Praxis in Zürich. He is Hungarian, that’s why I also went there (after not setting foot in a dental praxis in Switzerland for 15 years) and not only did he explain everything very well to me, he also told me the cost of everything that would have to be done. I still won’t go there to take out my wisdom teeth probably, because doing it with full anesthesia would cost a whopping 2000 francs, but if that was less expensive here in Switzerland, I would let him do it. Another Hungarian friend of mine recommend him originally and he was also very happy with him.

  16. It’s expensive and no insurance will help you. Maybe u have a special one which I’d assume not

  18. I always go to france for dentists, for some reason france always has beautiful blonde dentists in every praxis that i was going to, this helps tonrelax and smile even tho all dentists are sadists who enjoy giving pain. Just be able to speak a bit of french, miscommunication in dentistry isnt something you want

  19. The quality will be great, but it probably will be very expensive.
    For a normal filling to replace, probably between 300 and 500 for, if there are no issues.

  20. > That Swiss dentists’ favorite treatment for teeth with cavities is to pull them out

    Never heard of such a thing. Always filled, never pulled.

    > or if they do fill them with dental filling, it is not always done with high quality

    Can’t complain so far. I have a few fillings that have been done about 20 years ago and so far none of them fell out or made any problems.

    I don’t exactly know what material is used for the fillings, but as far as I understand it, it’s a white, “modern” and non-toxic kind of filling. (Unlike those metal-coloured “amalgam” fillings containing toxic mercury that are still used in some countries today and where there are concers about negative impact on health.)

    Of course Swiss dentists work for Swiss prices. So don’t expect your filling to be done for 50 bucks 😉

  21. Look I think you can write to some Dentist in advance and ask a range of price for your problem. I recommend to check outside the city centers. Dentist are expensive yes, more than in other countries. But i honestly went for something minor in Zurich and at the end it wasn’t all that bad. I think the key is to inquiry before hand.

  22. > That Swiss dentists’ favorite treatment for teeth with cavities is to pull them out, or if they do fill them with dental filling, it is not always done with high quality

    To what kind of dentists do you guys all go?! 
    Never had a bad experience at a dentist in Switzerland. 
    Like everything here it’s not cheap tho. 

  23. Extreme high quality with and extreme high cost, my experience at least. Never heard of anyone having bad treatments just that it was way too expensive for them. What you need I would not surprised if it’s in 600-1400 range depending exactly on what you need

  25. A high invoice? Just kidding, depends on the individual doctor in question: like everywhere on this earth, there are good and bad! Good luck with your visit.

  27. Man it took me a lot of time to find one to trust. Sadly the price is always high, at least now I get good quality. There are some who do deals with friends, but you gotta know a guy, and sadly that is not me.

  29. I had only good experiences with dentists here. No tooth filling just cleanings and one cavity filled in, and told to keep an eye on the other cavity which according to him did not need to be treated unless it got worse.

  30. A single filling is usually between CHF 250 – 300 (what I paid).
    I’ve had very good dentists here, although I choose the more modern ones. My mother had a bad experience with a senior dentist.

    Edit: the cost mentioned is for a filling of a tooth because of a bigger cavity

  31. Excellent service and quite a large invoice when compared with other Eastern European countries.

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