Does Tervisekassa (formerly Haigekassa) pay for dental treatment abroad?

Haigekassa is now Tervisekassa

Many people still search for "Haigekassa dental" or "does Haigekassa pay for dental treatment abroad". The institution is the same; the name changed. By an amendment to the law, Eesti Haigekassa became Tervisekassa from 1 April 2023. Current rules and amounts are on tervisekassa.ee.

Forum posts and older articles may use the old name and old figures. If you see a 40-euro adult dental benefit somewhere, that information is out of date. Every amount below comes from Tervisekassa pages we checked on 30 September 2026.

How the adult dental benefit works in Estonia

Tervisekassa describes the dental benefit as follows:

• an insured adult can use 60 euros per calendar year and pays at least 50% of the bill;
• 105 euros per year, with a co-payment of at least 12.5%, applies to pregnant women and mothers of children under one, registered unemployed people, recipients of subsistence benefit, old-age and incapacity pensioners, people with partial or no work ability, people over 63, and patients with an increased need for dental care;
• the benefit is deducted from the bill when you pay and no application is needed;
• it can be used only at dental providers that have a contract with Tervisekassa;
• unused benefit does not carry over to the next year.

Pensioners, people with partial or no work ability and people over 63 also have a denture benefit of 260 euros per three years. It is also used only at a contract partner and deducted from the bill.

You can check your remaining benefit on eesti.ee in the service "Hambaravi- ja proteesiteenuste info".

What this means for a plan in Turkey

The benefit is not cash you take with you. It is a discount a contract partner deducts from the bill. If a clinic in Turkey is not a Tervisekassa contract partner, there is nobody to deduct it from that bill.

You can still use the benefit in Estonia as usual, for example with your own dentist before or after the trip, if that dentist is a contract partner and the service is on the reimbursable list. Ask before the appointment.

The EU cross-border healthcare directive: what it is and is not

Directive 2011/24/EU lets a person insured by Tervisekassa receive treatment in another EU member state, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and then apply to Tervisekassa for reimbursement. Tervisekassa's page lists these conditions:

• no prior authorisation is needed, and you may use a public or a private provider;
• you pay everything first and claim afterwards;
• only services you are entitled to at Tervisekassa's expense in Estonia are reimbursed;
• the amount is calculated at Tervisekassa's list prices, not the foreign clinic's prices, so you pay the difference;
• services that are paid by the insured person in Estonia too are not reimbursed;
• travel, accommodation and other side costs stay with you;
• the directive does not apply in Switzerland or the United Kingdom.

The claim needs paid invoices, proof of payment, a treatment summary and, where required, a referral. According to Tervisekassa, no referral is required for a visit to a dentist. Processing takes up to three months.

On dental care specifically: the Tervisekassa pages we read do not set out step by step how the adult dental benefit is applied to treatment in another EU country. Do not guess an amount. Tervisekassa accepts free-form information requests at info@tervisekassa.ee. Describe the service and, if you can, attach the foreign clinic's cost estimate.

Why Turkey is outside this route

Turkey is not an EU member state or an EEA country. Tervisekassa lists the directive countries as EU member states, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. An ordinary dental trip to Turkey does not fall under these rules.

Tervisekassa also has a second route: planned treatment abroad with prior authorisation. As Tervisekassa describes it, this is for cases where a medically indicated service cannot be provided in Estonia, or cannot be provided within a medically justified time. It requires an application and a council opinion, and Tervisekassa decides. It does not describe a trip made for price, speed or a package.

The European Health Insurance Card does not help either. According to Tervisekassa, it covers necessary care when you fall ill unexpectedly while travelling, not a trip whose purpose is treatment.

What to do before deciding

1. Send an information request. Describe the treatment you are considering and where. Ask whether anything is reimbursable and on what price list.
2. Price the Turkish offer in full. Do not subtract an assumed refund. The method is in comparing dental costs in Turkey and Estonia.
3. Use the Estonian benefit in Estonia. If you plan an examination before the trip or a check afterwards, ask your dentist whether they are a contract partner. See also questions for your dentist in Estonia.
4. Keep the paperwork. Invoices, the treatment plan and a treatment summary are needed for any claim and for later care.

If a problem appears in Estonia after the trip

According to Tervisekassa, emergency dental care is free for all adults, regardless of insurance, when delaying it could cause death or permanent harm. It is provided by Tervisekassa contract partners and the dentist decides whether it is an emergency. Everything else, including fixing work done abroad, is ordinary paid treatment. More in a dental problem back in Estonia after treatment abroad.

Limits

This page describes Tervisekassa's public pages as of 30 September 2026. Amounts and conditions can change. It is not legal advice or a Tervisekassa decision. Tervisekassa decides your case. The page does not say treatment abroad is better or worse than in Estonia. It only says who pays the bill.