How to Find a Dentist in Amsterdam (Tandarts)

Routine dental care for adults in the Netherlands is not covered by the mandatory basic health insurance — you either pay out of pocket or take out optional supplementary dental insurance. Children under 18 are covered in full. Dentist prices are capped nationally, so a check-up costs the same maximum wherever you go, and you don't need to formally register the way you do with a GP — you just sign up as a patient at a practice you like.

Is the dentist covered by insurance?

This is the surprise that catches most newcomers out. Your Dutch health insurance is mandatory and covers GPs, hospitals and specialists — but for adults it does not cover the dentist for ordinary care like check-ups, cleanings and fillings.

The basic insurance (basisverzekering) covers only a narrow set of dental exceptions for adults:

• Surgical dental care by a jaw/oral surgeon (kaakchirurg) — for example a complex extraction — plus the associated X-ray.
• Removable dentures (kunstgebit): the basic insurance reimburses 75%, so you pay a 25% own contribution (less for implant-supported "click" dentures).
• Special dental care where there is a serious developmental disorder, growth disorder, or a physical/mental disability.

For everything else, adults pay. You can read the government's own summary on the Rijksoverheid dental reimbursement page.

Children under 18 are covered in full

Dental care for children under 18 is included in the basic insurance at no extra cost — no deductible, no supplementary policy needed. That covers check-ups, fillings, extractions, root-canal treatment, tartar removal and X-rays.

The exceptions, even for children, are orthodontics (braces), crowns, bridges and implants — those are not in the basic package and need supplementary cover. Coverage runs until the child turns 18.

What a dentist costs in 2026

Dentist prices in the Netherlands are not a free-for-all: the Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa) sets a maximum tariff for every treatment, updated each year. A dentist can charge less, but never more than the published maximum. For 2026 the tariffs came down slightly (about 1% on average). Some common 2026 maximums:

Evening, night and weekend treatment carries an out-of-hours surcharge (the ANW-toeslag) on top of these. You can check the full official list via the NZa dental care page.

How to find and register with a dentist

Unlike the GP (huisarts), there is no formal registration system where you're tied to one dentist. You simply sign up as a new patient at a practice of your choice — usually a short online or paper form asking for your name, BSN, ID and health-insurance details. You can register a whole family at one practice.

To find one:

• Search by postcode on a portal such as tandarts.nl or Doctena, or use the KNMT "find a dentist" tool.
• English is rarely a barrier — Dutch dentists generally speak strong English, and several Amsterdam practices explicitly advertise English-speaking staff.
• Expect some practices to be full. As with GPs, popular practices in central and expat-heavy areas sometimes have a waiting list or a few weeks' wait for an intake appointment. Trying a practice one neighbourhood over usually solves it.

Dental emergencies and out-of-hours care

For urgent problems — a knocked-out tooth, severe pain, a lost filling over the weekend — contact your own dental practice first. Dutch dentists run a mutual on-call rota (spoedgevallendienst), so even in the evening, at night or on weekends a dentist is reachable; your practice's voicemail or website will give the name and number of the dentist on duty. Amsterdam also has dedicated urgent-dental practices. Out-of-hours treatment carries the extra surcharge mentioned above. For a genuine medical emergency, call 112.

Do you need supplementary dental insurance?

Whether it's worth it comes down to how much work you expect. Supplementary dental insurance (aanvullende tandartsverzekering) reimburses a percentage of each bill up to a fixed annual maximum — commonly a few hundred euros, up to around €1,000 or more for the most extensive packages. If you only go for an annual check-up, the premiums can cost more than paying out of pocket. If you expect fillings, a crown, or ongoing treatment, it can pay for itself. Compare packages before the switching window each year (you can change supplementary cover when you renew your health insurance).