[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":1070},["ShallowReactive",2],{"magazine:family-portfolio":3,"magazine:family-portfolio:related":1000,"city-stats":1010},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"body":7,"cities":972,"description":977,"draft":978,"extension":979,"format":980,"meta":981,"navigation":982,"path":983,"published":984,"readingMinutes":985,"related":986,"section":989,"seo":990,"services":991,"sitemap":995,"sourcesVerified":996,"standfirst":997,"stem":998,"__hash__":999},"magazine/magazine/family-portfolio.md","Should teeth be in the financial plan?",null,{"type":8,"value":9,"toc":939},"minimark",[10,14,17,20,25,28,31,37,131,144,147,151,154,161,164,167,171,174,179,182,186,189,193,196,200,203,207,215,219,222,226,229,233,236,240,243,334,341,344,352,355,359,362,365,426,429,435,441,451,455,458,461,464,467,470,474,477,579,586,589,655,658,661,665,671,679,683,686,689,692,695,699,735,738,742,745,749,752,756,861,865,868,872,875,879,882],[11,12,13],"p",{},"Swiss households manage most large recurring costs deliberately. Mortgages get refinanced. Insurance gets reviewed at least when the premium letter arrives in October. Even mobile subscriptions get switched. Dental care sits outside all of that.",[11,15,16],{},"The reason is structural. Dental treatment sits outside basic insurance except in narrow cases, so there is no annual statement, no premium letter, no counterparty who sends you a summary. Costs arrive one bill at a time, spread across four people and four decades, and no one ever adds them up. A household that would not sign a CHF 130’000 commitment without reading it signs this one by not noticing it.",[11,18,19],{},"So we added it up. Here is a model of one household over forty years. Every input is listed at the end. The total will not match any real family, and it is not meant to. What the model is good for is showing which decisions move the number and by how much.",[21,22,24],"h2",{"id":23},"the-liability-what-a-family-of-four-actually-spends","The liability: what a family of four actually spends",[11,26,27],{},"The household: two adults aged 35, two children aged 5 and 8. Forty years. Everyone attends the dentist regularly. Nobody has an unusual condition. One of the two children needs orthodontic treatment, which is roughly the national base rate.",[11,29,30],{},"Priced at mid-range Swiss private tariff, that family spends:",[32,33,34],"mag-pull",{},[11,35,36],{},"CHF 130’070. Forty years of dental care for a household of four. CHF 3’252 a year, or CHF 813 per person per year.",[38,39,43],"mag-table",{"numeric":40,"caption":41,":total":42},"2,3","Where the money goes","true",[44,45,46,62],"table",{},[47,48,49],"thead",{},[50,51,52,56,59],"tr",{},[53,54,55],"th",{},"Category",[53,57,58],{},"40 years",[53,60,61],{},"Share",[63,64,65,77,88,99,110,120],"tbody",{},[50,66,67,71,74],{},[68,69,70],"td",{},"Check-ups and dental hygiene",[68,72,73],{},"70’170",[68,75,76],{},"54%",[50,78,79,82,85],{},[68,80,81],{},"Root canals and crowns",[68,83,84],{},"23’600",[68,86,87],{},"18%",[50,89,90,93,96],{},[68,91,92],{},"Implants",[68,94,95],{},"18’000",[68,97,98],{},"14%",[50,100,101,104,107],{},[68,102,103],{},"Fillings, extractions, wisdom teeth",[68,105,106],{},"9’300",[68,108,109],{},"7%",[50,111,112,115,118],{},[68,113,114],{},"Orthodontics, one child",[68,116,117],{},"9’000",[68,119,109],{},[50,121,122,125,128],{},[68,123,124],{},"Total",[68,126,127],{},"130’070",[68,129,130],{},"100%",[11,132,133,137,138,143],{},[134,135,136],"strong",{},"The largest line is not the implant. It is the appointment."," Routine ",[139,140,142],"a",{"href":141},"/services/check-up","check-ups and hygiene"," account for more than half the forty-year total, more than implants, crowns, root canals, fillings and braces combined.",[11,145,146],{},"Attention runs the other way. Families study the CHF 4’500 implant quote and never ask what the recall interval is based on, or what the practice charges per tariff point. Each session is small enough to ignore, which is why the biggest line in the model is the one nobody looks at.",[21,148,150],{"id":149},"the-spread-you-are-not-carrying-an-average","The spread: you are not carrying an average",[11,152,153],{},"CHF 130’070 is a central case. It is not what any particular family pays, and treating it as a budget line misses the actual problem.",[155,156],"mag-bars",{":rows":157,"caption":158,"head":159,"unit":160},"[{\"label\":\"Low-need household\",\"value\":103070,\"display\":\"CHF 103’070\"},{\"label\":\"Central case\",\"value\":130070,\"display\":\"CHF 130’070\",\"mark\":true},{\"label\":\"High-need household\",\"value\":165370,\"display\":\"CHF 165’370\"}]","The same family, three draws. The difference between the good outcome and the bad one is CHF 62’300, or 48 percent of the central case. Neither tail is exotic: the high case is two children in braces, some periodontal treatment, and more implants than average.","Forty-year household total, three draws","CHF",[11,162,163],{},"Two different problems live inside that spread, and they need different instruments. Financing the average is a budgeting problem. Surviving the tail is a risk problem.",[11,165,166],{},"There is also a correlation issue that household planning tends to ignore. Four people in one home are not four independent draws. They share water, diet, habits, a dentist, and a good deal of genetics. Whatever drives dental risk is at least partly common to all four, which means the family’s outcomes cluster. Bad years are more likely to be bad for more than one person at once. The tail is fatter than four separate people would suggest.",[21,168,170],{"id":169},"the-landscape-what-is-actually-on-the-table","The landscape: what is actually on the table",[11,172,173],{},"Before deciding which option is best, the inventory. There are more instruments here than most families know exist.",[175,176,178],"h3",{"id":177},"prevention-and-interval","Prevention and interval",[11,180,181],{},"The only lever that reduces need rather than price. The six-month rhythm is convention rather than evidence. The largest trial on the question, across 51 UK practices over four years, found no measurable difference in decay, gum disease or quality of life between six-monthly, risk-based and twenty-four-monthly recall among adults who attend regularly. That is not an argument for going less often. It is an argument for having the interval set on your risk rather than on the practice’s default.",[175,183,185],{"id":184},"price-inside-switzerland","Price inside Switzerland",[11,187,188],{},"Swiss dentists bill against a coded catalogue. Each service carries a number of tariff points, and the franc amount is that number multiplied by the practice’s point value. For private patients the value is free to move downward and capped at CHF 1.70. It is posted in the practice and printed on the bill. Two practices doing identical, identically coded work can differ substantially on price, and almost nobody asks. This is the only lever that costs nothing, involves no travel and carries no clinical risk.",[175,190,192],{"id":191},"insurance","Insurance",[11,194,195],{},"A transfer of variance rather than a reduction in cost. The arithmetic differs sharply between adults and children, and is set out below.",[175,197,199],{"id":198},"timing","Timing",[11,201,202],{},"Most dental work is elective in its timing but not in its necessity. Families reach for this lever when money is short. It reliably destroys value.",[175,204,206],{"id":205},"the-near-border","The near border",[11,208,209,210,214],{},"For a household in Basel, Schaffhausen or Kreuzlingen, ",[139,211,213],{"href":212},"/destinations/baden-wurttemberg","German practices"," are a tram ride away and market themselves openly to Swiss patients. Reported differences run around 40 to 60 percent on treatment work. Follow-up appointments stay practical, which matters more than the headline percentage.",[175,216,218],{"id":217},"planned-treatment-further-afield","Planned treatment further afield",[11,220,221],{},"Hungary, Poland, Spain and others, where reported differences on large restorative and prosthetic work run to 60 or 70 percent. Real fixed costs are attached: flights, accommodation, days not worked, and a problem discovered later is harder to bring back. It only makes sense above a certain job size.",[175,223,225],{"id":224},"public-and-university-clinics","Public and university clinics",[11,227,228],{},"University dental clinics and cantonal school dental services treat at reduced tariffs. Slower and less convenient, and materially cheaper on certain items.",[175,230,232],{"id":231},"holding-the-reserve-yourself","Holding the reserve yourself",[11,234,235],{},"Keep the money, invest it, pay the bills as they come. Available to any household liquid enough to absorb a bad year without borrowing.",[21,237,239],{"id":238},"the-thresholds-where-each-option-stops-working","The thresholds: where each option stops working",[11,241,242],{},"Every option above has a fixed cost attached, and the fixed cost determines the smallest job it makes sense for. It is also the number that decides most cases.",[38,244,247],{"numeric":245,"caption":246},"2,3,4","Minimum Swiss-priced job required before travelling pays for itself",[44,248,249,265],{},[47,250,251],{},[50,252,253,256,259,262],{},[53,254,255],{},"Option",[53,257,258],{},"Reduction",[53,260,261],{},"Trip cost",[53,263,264],{},"Break-even job",[63,266,267,281,294,308,321],{},[50,268,269,272,275,278],{},[68,270,271],{},"Near border, one visit",[68,273,274],{},"45%",[68,276,277],{},"60",[68,279,280],{},"CHF 133",[50,282,283,286,288,291],{},[68,284,285],{},"Near border, two visits",[68,287,274],{},[68,289,290],{},"120",[68,292,293],{},"CHF 267",[50,295,296,299,302,305],{},[68,297,298],{},"Further afield, one trip",[68,300,301],{},"60%",[68,303,304],{},"600",[68,306,307],{},"CHF 1’000",[50,309,310,313,315,318],{},[68,311,312],{},"Further afield, two trips",[68,314,301],{},[68,316,317],{},"1’200",[68,319,320],{},"CHF 2’000",[50,322,323,326,328,331],{},[68,324,325],{},"Further afield, two trips plus three unpaid days",[68,327,301],{},[68,329,330],{},"2’250",[68,332,333],{},"CHF 3’750",[11,335,336,337,340],{},"The table prices francs and nothing else. Read it as a rule about job size, not about countries. ",[134,338,339],{},"A single filling should never get on a plane."," At a Swiss price of CHF 400 and a 60 percent reduction, the saving is CHF 240 against fixed costs several times that. The family loses money and a day, and reports it as a saving because the invoice was smaller.",[11,342,343],{},"The near border behaves completely differently. At a round-trip cost of CHF 60 the threshold falls to around CHF 133, which is below the price of a single check-up and hygiene session. For a household within thirty minutes of the border, distance stops being an economic variable at all and the decision becomes purely one of continuity and preference.",[11,345,346,347,351],{},"Price is only one reason people travel, and often not the main one. ",[139,348,350],{"href":349},"/magazine/dentist-density","Waiting times",", a specialist or a technique not available nearby, wanting the job done in one block instead of spread across eight appointments, or simply trusting a particular clinic are all real reasons that no break-even figure captures. A job below the threshold can still be the right one to travel for.",[11,353,354],{},"The same holds in reverse. Continuity of care, being able to walk back in when something feels wrong, and having one clinician who holds the whole picture have value that does not appear in a table either. The arithmetic says when price on its own justifies the trip. It does not say what a household should do.",[21,356,358],{"id":357},"insurance-a-transfer-not-a-saving","Insurance: a transfer, not a saving",[11,360,361],{},"Supplementary dental insurance is the instrument most Swiss families reach for first, and it is worth being precise about what it does. An insurer prices the product knowing the loss distribution better than the household does. On average, across all policyholders, the premiums have to exceed the payouts, or there is no insurer. Buying insurance does not reduce what dentistry costs. It converts a lumpy, uncertain cost into a smooth, certain one, and you pay for that conversion.",[11,363,364],{},"That conversion can still be worth buying. Whether it is depends entirely on who is being insured.",[38,366,369],{"numeric":367,"caption":368},"3,4,5","Representative mid-tier cover, modelled over the full term",[44,370,371,390],{},[47,372,373],{},[50,374,375,378,381,384,387],{},[53,376,377],{},"Who",[53,379,380],{},"Cover",[53,382,383],{},"Premiums",[53,385,386],{},"Expected payout",[53,388,389],{},"Net",[63,391,392,409],{},[50,393,394,397,400,403,406],{},[68,395,396],{},"One adult, CHF 45 a month, 40 years",[68,398,399],{},"60% of eligible spend, CHF 1’500 annual cap",[68,401,402],{},"21’600",[68,404,405],{},"20’040",[68,407,408],{},"−1’560",[50,410,411,414,417,420,423],{},[68,412,413],{},"One child, CHF 20 a month, age 4 to 20",[68,415,416],{},"75% of orthodontics, 50% of other work",[68,418,419],{},"3’840",[68,421,422],{},"6’756",[68,424,425],{},"+2’916",[11,427,428],{},"Two different products wearing the same name.",[11,430,431,434],{},[134,432,433],{},"For adults, it is close to a wash."," The modelled family pays roughly CHF 21’600 in premiums per adult and gets roughly CHF 20’040 back. That is a correctly priced product doing its job. But it means the household is paying a modest fee to avoid holding variance it could probably hold itself, and the annual cap bites in the years the money is needed most. In an implant year the bill is CHF 5’000 and the cap pays CHF 1’500. The product smooths the small years and leaves the tail largely with the family.",[11,436,437,440],{},[134,438,439],{},"For children, the arithmetic reverses."," Roughly half of Swiss children need orthodontic treatment, and typical estimates run around CHF 8’500 to CHF 9’500, with the wider range spanning CHF 3’000 to CHF 12’000. That is a high-probability, high-severity, well-defined event, which is exactly what insurance is built for. Modelled at a 50 percent chance of treatment, cover bought in early childhood is positive in expectation by around CHF 2’900 per child, and it removes the single largest predictable shock in the household’s dental timeline.",[442,443,445,448],"mag-panel",{"title":444},"The part that is easy to get wrong",[11,446,447],{},"Children’s orthodontic cover is an option with an expiry date, and the date is not a birthday. It is the moment a finding is written down. Once an orthodontist has documented a malocclusion, insurers apply a reservation or decline, and the option is gone. The window closes on the diagnosis, not on the age.",[11,449,450],{},"The practical consequence is uncomfortable. A household has to decide whether to buy cover for a child years before knowing whether that child will need anything at all. That is what buying an option means. It also means the decision has a date attached to it, usually somewhere around ages 4 to 7, and it is the one item on this entire list that cannot be revisited later.",[21,452,454],{"id":453},"the-expensive-decision-waiting","The expensive decision: waiting",[11,456,457],{},"Every option discussed so far is about where and how to buy. The largest single sum in the model is about neither.",[11,459,460],{},"A composite filling costs roughly CHF 400. Left long enough, the same tooth needs a root canal and a crown, which is roughly CHF 2’800. The difference is CHF 2’400 per tooth, and the mechanism is not exotic: the problem was known, and the appointment was postponed because the month was tight or the diagnosis was not painful yet.",[11,462,463],{},"CHF 14’400 is added to the household’s forty-year total by deferring six small problems until they need root canals and crowns. That single behaviour costs more than most of the optimisations on this list are worth.",[11,465,466],{},"The pattern that shows up repeatedly in adult dentistry is the same shape stretched over decades. A misalignment graded minor in childhood, judged not worth treating, produces grinding and wear, and thirty years later presents as a full restorative case. Nobody made a bad decision at any point. The decision was simply never revisited, and the compounding ran the other way.",[11,468,469],{},"This is the honest centre of the argument. A household that optimises procurement brilliantly and defers treatment will do worse than a household that pays full Swiss list price and never postpones anything. The order of operations matters: fix the timing first, then worry about the price.",[21,471,473],{"id":472},"the-scenarios-four-strategies-and-a-mix","The scenarios: four strategies, and a mix",[11,475,476],{},"Same family, same clinical needs, five different approaches to buying the care.",[38,478,481],{"numeric":479,"caption":480,":total":42},"3,4","Forty-year household total, CHF",[44,482,483,498],{},[47,484,485],{},[50,486,487,490,493,495],{},[53,488,489],{},"Strategy",[53,491,492],{},"How it is bought",[53,494,124],{},[53,496,497],{},"Difference",[63,499,500,515,531,547,563],{},[50,501,502,507,510,512],{},[68,503,504],{},[134,505,506],{},"Default",[68,508,509],{},"One practice, whatever the point value, twice a year, no plan",[68,511,127],{},[68,513,514],{},"baseline",[50,516,517,522,525,528],{},[68,518,519],{},[134,520,521],{},"Price discipline at home",[68,523,524],{},"Point value checked, intervals set on risk, second opinion above CHF 2’000. No travel.",[68,526,527],{},"103’542",[68,529,530],{},"−26’528",[50,532,533,538,541,544],{},[68,534,535],{},[134,536,537],{},"Near border for all treatment",[68,539,540],{},"Routine stays local, everything else across the border",[68,542,543],{},"104’315",[68,545,546],{},"−25’755",[50,548,549,554,557,560],{},[68,550,551],{},[134,552,553],{},"Further afield for large plans",[68,555,556],{},"Only bundled work above the threshold travels",[68,558,559],{},"106’910",[68,561,562],{},"−23’160",[50,564,565,570,573,576],{},[68,566,567],{},[134,568,569],{},"Mixed portfolio",[68,571,572],{},"Each job routed to the cheapest option that clears its own threshold",[68,574,575],{},"88’682",[68,577,578],{},"−41’388",[11,580,581,582,585],{},"The three single-strategy approaches land within CHF 4’000 of each other, which is the most useful result in the piece. ",[134,583,584],{},"No individual lever is decisive."," Going abroad for everything is worth roughly what staying home and asking about the tariff point value is worth. A household that picks one strategy and commits to it captures about a fifth of the available difference regardless of which one it picks.",[11,587,588],{},"The mix does better because different jobs have different economics. Routine care is high-frequency and low-value, so it belongs wherever it is convenient and correctly priced. A crown is mid-value and needs one or two visits, so the near border clears easily. A bundled restorative plan is high-value and infrequent, so it can absorb real travel cost. Routing each job to the cheapest option that clears its own threshold is the entire technique.",[38,590,593],{"numeric":591,"caption":592},"2","What each lever is worth on its own, over forty years",[44,594,595,605],{},[47,596,597],{},[50,598,599,602],{},[53,600,601],{},"Lever",[53,603,604],{},"Value",[63,606,607,615,623,631,639,647],{},[50,608,609,612],{},[68,610,611],{},"Bundled large plans treated abroad",[68,613,614],{},"23’160",[50,616,617,620],{},[68,618,619],{},"Recall intervals set on risk rather than habit",[68,621,622],{},"17’542",[50,624,625,628],{},[68,626,627],{},"Not deferring small problems",[68,629,630],{},"14’400",[50,632,633,636],{},[68,634,635],{},"Checking the practice’s tariff point value",[68,637,638],{},"13’007",[50,640,641,644],{},[68,642,643],{},"Mid-sized work at the near border",[68,645,646],{},"9’780",[50,648,649,652],{},[68,650,651],{},"Children’s orthodontic cover bought early",[68,653,654],{},"2’910",[11,656,657],{},"These do not add up, and should not be added up. They overlap on the same spending: work done abroad cannot also be discounted at home. The mixed portfolio captures CHF 41’388, not the CHF 80’799 the column sums to.",[11,659,660],{},"One more line, because the money arrives early and the horizon is long. Released evenly across forty years and invested at 3 percent real, CHF 41’388 of avoided spending is worth about CHF 78’000 by the end. That is not a dental figure. It is what the household does with the difference, and it is the reason the question belongs in the financial plan rather than in the medical one.",[175,662,664],{"id":663},"what-the-model-does-not-say","What the model does not say",[11,666,667,670],{},[134,668,669],{},"Need dominates price."," The gap between a low-need and a high-need household is CHF 62’300, more than the best procurement strategy is worth. Most of what sets it is settled in the first twenty years of a life, and no later shopping recovers it.",[11,672,673,674,678],{},"Three smaller caveats. A portfolio means more than one clinician holds part of the picture, and records, ",[139,675,677],{"href":676},"/magazine/whats-in-the-box","warranties"," and continuity all suffer for it. Real histories are lumpier than the model, so plan against the high case rather than the central one. And the recall-interval figure rests on a four-year trial among regular attenders in a public system, so treat the CHF 17’542 as an upper bound on a question a dentist should answer for a specific mouth.",[21,680,682],{"id":681},"the-answer-the-default-is-the-expensive-option","The answer: the default is the expensive option",[11,684,685],{},"Is this worth actively managing? On the model, yes. Deciding in advance where each job goes costs a family about CHF 41’000 less over forty years than paying the bills as they arrive.",[11,687,688],{},"That gap does not come from one clever move. It comes from a handful of decisions that never feel financial when they are made. The recall interval. The practice’s tariff point value. Whether a known problem waits another six months. Whether the cover for a seven-year-old was bought before or after the orthodontist wrote something down. Each is a price decision. None of them looks like one.",[11,690,691],{},"Treatment abroad is one line in that ledger, and the model ranks it highest by value. It is also the line with the highest fixed costs and the narrowest range of jobs it applies to. It earns a place for a small number of large, planned, bundled treatments, and no place at all for a filling.",[11,693,694],{},"None of this requires becoming an expert, and none of it means distrusting your dentist. It means having looked at the options once, before the first big quote lands. A family that has done that chooses its timing, its price and its clinic. Otherwise those three get decided together, quickly, and by default. That is the difference, and on the model it is worth about CHF 41’000.",[175,696,698],{"id":697},"when-to-actually-look-at-it","When to actually look at it",[700,701,702],"mag-checklist",{},[703,704,705,712,718,729],"ol",{},[706,707,708,711],"li",{},[134,709,710],{},"When a child turns four."," The orthodontic cover decision has a real expiry and it is the only irreversible item on this list.",[706,713,714,717],{},[134,715,716],{},"At the orthodontic assessment, usually around eight."," Ask what the grading is and what happens if nothing is done. Minor findings that go untreated are the ones that reappear expensively in adulthood.",[706,719,720,723,724,728],{},[134,721,722],{},"Any time a plan exceeds CHF 2’000."," That is the threshold where a second opinion and a ",[139,725,727],{"href":726},"/discover","look at the alternatives"," pay for themselves several times over. Below it, just get it done.",[706,730,731,734],{},[134,732,733],{},"At retirement."," Income drops, the tail arrives, and the reserve has to be in place before the first big bill rather than after it.",[11,736,737],{},"Four moments in forty years. That is the whole management overhead, and it is less than most households spend comparing mobile subscriptions.",[21,739,741],{"id":740},"method-how-this-was-modelled","Method: how this was modelled",[11,743,744],{},"A stylised household, not a survey of real spending. Every figure in the article comes from the inputs below.",[175,746,748],{"id":747},"household-and-horizon","Household and horizon",[11,750,751],{},"Two adults aged 35 and two children aged 5 and 8, modelled over forty years. Figures in 2026 francs with no inflation applied, since dental prices and incomes both move and the ratio is steadier than either. Returns quoted in real terms.",[175,753,755],{"id":754},"unit-prices-mid-range-swiss-private-tariff","Unit prices, mid-range Swiss private tariff",[38,757,758],{"numeric":591},[44,759,760,772],{},[47,761,762],{},[50,763,764,767,769],{},[53,765,766],{},"Item",[53,768,160],{},[53,770,771],{},"Reported range",[63,773,774,785,796,807,818,829,840,851],{},[50,775,776,779,782],{},[68,777,778],{},"Check-up with dental hygiene",[68,780,781],{},"240",[68,783,784],{},"210 to 280",[50,786,787,790,793],{},[68,788,789],{},"Same, school dental service tariff",[68,791,792],{},"150",[68,794,795],{},"varies by canton",[50,797,798,801,804],{},[68,799,800],{},"Composite filling",[68,802,803],{},"400",[68,805,806],{},"250 to 600",[50,808,809,812,815],{},[68,810,811],{},"Root canal treatment",[68,813,814],{},"1’100",[68,816,817],{},"800 to 1’400",[50,819,820,823,826],{},[68,821,822],{},"Crown or partial crown",[68,824,825],{},"1’700",[68,827,828],{},"1’600 to 2’500",[50,830,831,834,837],{},[68,832,833],{},"Implant including abutment and crown",[68,835,836],{},"4’500",[68,838,839],{},"4’000 to 6’000",[50,841,842,845,848],{},[68,843,844],{},"Wisdom tooth extraction",[68,846,847],{},"650",[68,849,850],{},"500 to 800",[50,852,853,856,858],{},[68,854,855],{},"Orthodontic treatment, child",[68,857,117],{},[68,859,860],{},"3’000 to 12’000",[175,862,864],{"id":863},"treatment-assumed","Treatment assumed",[11,866,867],{},"Per adult: two routine sessions a year, six fillings, two root canals, four crowns, 1.5 implants. Per child: 1.5 sessions a year at school tariff to age 17, then two a year at private tariff, plus four fillings, wisdom teeth, one root canal, one crown, 0.5 implants. One of the two children needs orthodontic treatment, matching the widely cited figure that around half of Swiss children do.",[175,869,871],{"id":870},"reductions-and-travel-costs","Reductions and travel costs",[11,873,874],{},"Near border 45 percent, further afield 60 percent, applied to treatment only and never to routine care. Both sit inside publicly reported ranges of 40 to 60 percent for Germany and 60 to 70 percent for Hungary on larger work. Price discipline at home is modelled at a conservative 10 percent on tariff-coded work, against a private point value capped at CHF 1.70 and free to move downward. Risk-based recall moves two of the four members from two sessions a year to one. Travel is CHF 60 per near-border round trip and CHF 600 per trip further afield, covering flights and three nights, two trips per plan.",[175,876,878],{"id":877},"excluded","Excluded",[11,880,881],{},"Cosmetic work. Accident cases, which fall under accident insurance. Full-arch rehabilitation. Care after age 75, which would raise every total. Cantonal social tariffs, which would reduce them.",[883,884,885],"mag-sources",{},[886,887,888,896,903,909,922,929,936],"ul",{},[706,889,890,891,895],{},"Federal Statistical Office, ",[892,893,894],"em",{},"Cost and financing of the health system",", 2024. Total health costs of CHF 97 billion, CHF 10’792 per capita, with private households financing roughly 62 percent directly or through premiums.",[706,897,898,899,902],{},"Swiss Dental Association SSO, ",[892,900,901],{},"Tariff structure and DENTOTAR",". Services are coded in tariff points, the point value is CHF 1.00 for social insurance and variable for private patients, free downward and capped at CHF 1.70, posted in the practice and shown on the bill.",[706,904,905,908],{},[892,906,907],{},"Health Insurance Act and Art. 17 to 19a KLV",". Dental treatment is covered by basic insurance only for severe, unavoidable disease of the masticatory system, treatment required by a severe general illness, or accident.",[706,910,911,912,915,916],{},"Fee PA et al., ",[892,913,914],{},"Recall intervals for oral health in primary care patients",", Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2020, and the INTERVAL randomised controlled trial across 51 UK practices. No measurable difference between six-monthly, risk-based and twenty-four-monthly recall over four years in regular adult attenders. ",[139,917,921],{"href":918,"rel":919},"https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD004346.pub5/full",[920],"nofollow","cochranelibrary.com",[706,923,924,925,928],{},"KPT, Zahnarztzentrum and practitioner sources, ",[892,926,927],{},"Swiss orthodontic cost estimates and the base rate for treatment",". Roughly half of children treated, typical estimates around CHF 8’500 to CHF 9’500, full range CHF 3’000 to CHF 12’000.",[706,930,931,932,935],{},"Border practices and Swiss-facing intermediaries, ",[892,933,934],{},"Reported price differences for Swiss patients treated in southern Germany and in Hungary",".",[706,937,938],{},"Published practice price lists and swissinfo’s summary of services not covered by basic insurance. Swiss treatment price ranges were cross-checked against both.",{"title":940,"searchDepth":941,"depth":941,"links":942},"",2,[943,944,945,956,957,958,959,962,965],{"id":23,"depth":941,"text":24},{"id":149,"depth":941,"text":150},{"id":169,"depth":941,"text":170,"children":946},[947,949,950,951,952,953,954,955],{"id":177,"depth":948,"text":178},3,{"id":184,"depth":948,"text":185},{"id":191,"depth":948,"text":192},{"id":198,"depth":948,"text":199},{"id":205,"depth":948,"text":206},{"id":217,"depth":948,"text":218},{"id":224,"depth":948,"text":225},{"id":231,"depth":948,"text":232},{"id":238,"depth":941,"text":239},{"id":357,"depth":941,"text":358},{"id":453,"depth":941,"text":454},{"id":472,"depth":941,"text":473,"children":960},[961],{"id":663,"depth":948,"text":664},{"id":681,"depth":941,"text":682,"children":963},[964],{"id":697,"depth":948,"text":698},{"id":740,"depth":941,"text":741,"children":966},[967,968,969,970,971],{"id":747,"depth":948,"text":748},{"id":754,"depth":948,"text":755},{"id":863,"depth":948,"text":864},{"id":870,"depth":948,"text":871},{"id":877,"depth":948,"text":878},[973,974,975,976],"baden-wurttemberg","budapest","krakow","barcelona","A forty-year model of one Swiss household: CHF 130’070 of dental care, which decisions actually move the number, and which ones only feel like they do.",false,"md","procedure",{},true,"/magazine/family-portfolio","2026-08-22","14",[987,988],"most-expensive-body-part","where-the-saving-comes-from","household-economics",{"title":5,"description":977},[992,993,994],"implants","crowns","check-up",{"loc":983},"2026-08","A Swiss family of four will spend somewhere around CHF 130’000 on dental care over forty years. Basic insurance covers almost none of it. Almost none of it is planned. We built the model to find out which decisions actually move the number, and which ones only feel like they do.","magazine/family-portfolio","6svWyKcW6jdDAgAX0pPpjLF2yZTZrfczuAn9_F-Xs04",[1001,1005],{"path":1002,"title":1003,"section":989,"readingMinutes":1004},"/magazine/most-expensive-body-part","The most expensive body part in Switzerland","9",{"path":1006,"title":1007,"section":1008,"readingMinutes":1009},"/magazine/where-the-saving-comes-from","Where the saving comes from","markets","10",{"cities":1011,"totals":1062},[1012,1020,1029,1037,1045,1054],{"slug":976,"locality":1013,"country":1014,"clinic_count":948,"savings_percent":1015,"price_modifier":1016,"avg_rating":1017,"review_count":1018,"from_price_chf":1019},"Barcelona","Spain",65,0.35,4.58,59,53,{"slug":974,"locality":1021,"country":1022,"clinic_count":1023,"savings_percent":1024,"price_modifier":1025,"avg_rating":1026,"review_count":1027,"from_price_chf":1028},"Budapest","Hungary",1,75,0.25,4.77,22,38,{"slug":975,"locality":1030,"country":1031,"clinic_count":1023,"savings_percent":1032,"price_modifier":1033,"avg_rating":1034,"review_count":1035,"from_price_chf":1036},"Krakow","Poland",72,0.28,4.72,18,42,{"slug":1038,"locality":1039,"country":1040,"clinic_count":941,"savings_percent":1041,"price_modifier":1042,"avg_rating":1043,"review_count":1027,"from_price_chf":1044},"milan","Milan","Italy",55,0.45,4.86,68,{"slug":1046,"locality":1047,"country":1048,"clinic_count":1023,"savings_percent":1049,"price_modifier":1050,"avg_rating":1051,"review_count":1052,"from_price_chf":1053},"athens","Athens","Greece",70,0.3,4.79,19,45,{"slug":973,"locality":1055,"country":1056,"clinic_count":1023,"savings_percent":1057,"price_modifier":1058,"avg_rating":1059,"review_count":1060,"from_price_chf":1061},"Baden-Württemberg","Germany",28,0.72,4.73,11,108,{"clinic_count":1063,"avg_rating":1064,"review_count":1065,"avg_savings_percent":1066,"max_savings_percent":1024,"reservation_fee_min_chf":1067,"reservation_fee_max_chf":1068,"staff_count":1069},9,4.7,151,61,100,200,39,1788616075819]