“I still need my stamp for this year.” In dental practices, many calls toward the end of the year start with this sentence, and in November and December there tend to be noticeably more of them. The reason lies in German social law: people with statutory health insurance who need dentures get a higher fixed subsidy if they have kept up their dental check-ups – adults at least once in every calendar year. Anyone who has not been to the practice in 2026 has until December 31 to catch up. This article shows how a practice website can bring order to the rush: with a factual notice at the very top, realistic time slots, a form that asks for the reason for the visit rather than for findings, and an FAQ that answers the recurring bonus booklet questions before they tie up the phone.
Why December 31 matters for the bonus
Section 55(1) of Book V of the German Social Code (SGB V) governs what statutory health insurance pays toward dentures, meaning crowns, bridges and prostheses.
It does not pay a share of the invoice but fixed subsidies based on the dental findings. These cover 60 percent (SGB V) of the amounts set for the respective standard treatment. For the patient’s own efforts to keep their teeth healthy, they rise to 70 percent (SGB V). Patients who have cared for their teeth regularly and attended the check-ups without interruption during the last ten calendar years before treatment begins receive 75 percent (SGB V). The National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Dentists works through an example of what that means in euros: if an upper canine is missing, the fixed subsidy is 791.34 euros without a bonus and 989.19 euros with ten years of bonus booklet entries (KZBV, as of January 1, 2026). For patients that is a noticeable difference, which is why many keep an eye on their booklet.
What matters for the season is how the law counts the check-ups: by calendar year, not by twelve-month intervals. For adults, the test is whether, after turning 18, they had a dental examination at least once in every calendar year (SGB V). For insured persons who have reached the age of six but not yet eighteen, Section 55 refers to the examination under Section 22(1), and that applies once in every calendar half-year (SGB V). A check-up in January 2026 and the next one in December 2027 therefore meet the rhythm for adults just as well as two appointments a few weeks apart – what counts is that an examination takes place in every year. That is exactly where the year-end effect comes from. Patients who have not had an appointment this year often only notice when they look at their booklet or discuss a planned crown, and by then only November and December are left. For the practice this is not chance but a pattern the website can prepare for every year.
Scroll table sideways
| Case | What Section 55 SGB V requires | What the practice website says |
|---|---|---|
| Adults from 18 | Examination at least once in every calendar year (SGB V) | “Check-up still due in 2026? Slots until December 17” |
| Children and teens from 6 to under 18 | Examination in every calendar half-year under Section 22(1) (SGB V) | Reminder of an appointment in the second half of the year |
| Increase to 70 percent (SGB V) | own efforts, measured over the five years before treatment begins | Request to bring the booklet, no promise |
| Increase to 75 percent (SGB V) | regular care and ten calendar years without interruption | Reference to the health insurer |
| Calendar year 2020 | a missed examination does not cancel the increase (SGB V) | Answer in the FAQ |
| One gap in ten years | with regular care, the insurer may still grant 75 percent in justified exceptional cases (SGB V) | Answer in the FAQ, without a promise |
No “no stamp, no bonus”
Read the rule closely: exceptions and gaps
The sentence that matters is longer in the law than in the KZBV’s patient information.
In essence, it says that the increase lapses if the condition of the patient’s teeth does not show regular dental care and if, during the last five years before treatment begins, the patient did not attend the examinations (SGB V). What counts are the five years before treatment begins, not the five years before the application or before the request on the website. The National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Dentists explains it to patients in practical terms: the fixed subsidy rises once regular check-ups have been documented without gaps over five years (KZBV). Both views belong together. The practice website explains the record and invites patients to the check-up, but it does not calculate who gets which amount. That review lies with the health insurer, and it depends on findings, treatment plan and booklet – nothing a contact form should know.
Two exceptions belong on every bonus booklet page, because patients ask about exactly these. The first concerns 2020: the increase does not lapse if an examination was missed in calendar year 2020 (SGB V). The KZBV explains this with the contact restrictions in force at the time; insured persons do not have to give a special reason for that year (KZBV). The second is the one-time gap. In justified exceptional cases, health insurers may still raise the fixed subsidy to 75 percent if the patient has cared for their teeth regularly and attended the check-ups in the last ten years with only a single interruption (SGB V). That is a discretionary rule, not an entitlement, and the insurer expects an adequate justification (KZBV). According to the KZBV, it does not matter in which year of the ten-year period the gap occurred; it cites a ruling of the Federal Social Court of May 28, 2026 (KZBV). For hardship cases under subsection 2, the discretionary rule does not apply (SGB V). Anyone recognized as a hardship case receives a subsidy of 100 percent for the standard treatment anyway (KZBV).
Two sentences, one difference
Bonus booklet on paper and in the ePA
The bonus booklet has existed since 1989 (KZBV); it was introduced with the Health Care Reform Act.
It is small enough for a wallet, and the practice confirms the date of the examination in it with a stamp – for adults as a dental examination, for children and teens as individual prophylaxis (KZBV). There is also a digital counterpart. Section 341(2) no. 2 SGB V explicitly lists the data proving the regular use of dental preventive examinations as possible content of the electronic patient record (ePA), the electronic dental bonus booklet (SGB V). According to the KZBV, this has been legally possible since January 2022, provided the technical requirements are in place for patient and practice (KZBV 2022). Using the electronic patient record is voluntary for insured persons (SGB V), and the paper booklet remains valid (KZBV 2022).
For the website this leads to one sentence that speaks to both groups: “Bring your bonus booklet, or tell us at your appointment that you use the electronic dental bonus booklet in your patient record.” Whether the practice itself writes entries into the patient record is something only the practice knows; the website states the actual situation and makes no blanket promise. Almost as common is the question about a missing stamp. The KZBV advises not to wait too long and to have the practice add the entry later. It states the condition right away: re-stamping requires that the examination took place in the period in question and is documented in the patient file (KZBV). The practice can also fill in a new booklet from its records if one has been lost (KZBV). Both belong in the FAQ of the practice page, with the clear note that a late entry confirms an examination that took place and does not replace one.
The notice band: check-up still due in 2026?
Many patients do not arrive through a specialist article but through the practice home page, often on a phone and with one single question: can I still get an appointment this year?
A notice at the very top answers that question before anyone has to scroll. In XICflow, the announcement block does this job; according to the documentation of the conversion blocks, it is a slim colored bar for an announcement with an optional link (XICflow documentation). The band carries a short label, one sentence and a link. The “brand” variant stands out, while “gold” and “neutral” look calmer – often the better fit for a medical practice. For the season, a sentence like “Check-up still due in 2026? Slots until December 17” is enough; the link reads “Request a slot” and leads straight to the form on the appointment page. This notice does not need a countdown: the documentation points out that a countdown “claims a real deadline” (XICflow documentation), and a ticking counter on a dental practice home page quickly feels like sales pressure.
- A real date instead of a threat: “Slots until December 17” can be checked, “only a few days left” cannot.
- No amount in the band: the fixed subsidy depends on the findings and the insurer; a figure on the home page would be wrong in individual cases.
- One destination: the link leads to the appointment form, not to the general contact page with every channel at once.
- An end date for the band itself: in January a new notice replaces the old one, otherwise the home page is still asking about 2026 in February.
- Closing days in the same view: if the practice closes between Christmas and New Year, that belongs in the band as a second sentence or directly below it.
Time slots for November and December
The website can only offer as many appointments as the calendar allows. Before the notice band goes live, it is therefore worth looking at the weeks up to the end of the year.
How many check-ups fit into a day alongside treatments, prophylaxis and patients in pain? Who is on vacation in December, and when does the practice close between Christmas and New Year? One option is fixed windows, such as two mornings a week reserved for check-ups, plus free slots every day for urgent cases. The website then names these windows instead of individual times: “Check-ups in November and December on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, last appointment on December 17.” Patients know what to expect, and the team receives requests that fit the plan. If you would rather offer self-booking than requests, the differences are covered in the article on online appointment booking.
Check-up windows
Fixed time blocks reserved for check-ups, named on the website as weekday and time of day rather than as individual times. The notice band points to them.
Buffer for complaints
Free slots every day for urgent cases, so that the check-up season does not push a patient in pain into January.
Between the holidays
Set closing days and cover arrangements early and enter them in the opening hours block before the first question about them arrives.
Closing days belong in the opening hours block, not in a side remark in the body text. The block shows a table per weekday, and according to the documentation of the grid blocks, empty fields follow a simple rule: “empty times are shown as closed” (XICflow documentation). Below the table there is a freely worded note, for example “Closed from December 24 to January 1, cover practice see below.” The regular hours stay in place; in January only the note is deleted again. If you expect short-notice cancellations in the busy season, it pays to settle in advance, and visibly, how you handle them. The article on missed appointment fees shows how a practice can describe such a fee factually on its website.
The appointment request: reason, not findings
The general contact form asks for name, email, phone and message. For the season that is too open, because the message field then fills up with complaints, previous findings and medication lists that nobody needs there.
A dedicated form for appointment requests works better. With the “Form” block in XICflow you set the label and field type yourself; according to the documentation on requests and team, you can choose “single-line text, email, phone, number, dropdown, multi-line text, checkbox and consent” (XICflow documentation). The documentation itself shows a suitable pattern: an “Arrange a callback” form with name, email, phone, a “Preferred time” dropdown with the answers morning, afternoon and evening, and a required consent field. For a dental practice, a second dropdown is added: the reason for the visit. Leave out the multi-line message field. This is what the setup looks like:
{
"type": "form",
"title": "Request a check-up",
"submitText": "Request a slot",
"fields": [
{ "key": "name", "label": "Name", "type": "text", "required": true },
{ "key": "phone", "label": "Phone", "type": "tel", "required": true },
{ "key": "email", "label": "Email", "type": "email" },
{ "key": "reason", "label": "Reason for the visit", "type": "select",
"placeholder": "Please choose",
"options": ["Check-up", "Complaints", "Advice"] },
{ "key": "time_slot", "label": "Preferred time", "type": "select",
"placeholder": "Please choose",
"options": ["Morning", "Afternoon"] },
{ "key": "consent", "type": "consent", "required": true,
"label": "I agree to my details being processed to arrange an appointment." }
]
}Why no free-text question about complaints? Because even an appointment request to a dental practice can touch on health data. The GDPR defines data concerning health as personal data related to the physical or mental health of a person, expressly “including the provision of health care services,” which reveal information about their health status (GDPR). Under Article 9(1), processing such data is prohibited in principle (GDPR); one of the exceptions in paragraph 2 is that the data subject “has given explicit consent” (GDPR). On top of that comes the principle of data minimization in Article 5(1): data must be “limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed” (GDPR). To assign an appointment, a rough choice between check-up, complaints and advice is enough. Findings, diagnoses and medication are discussed by the team on the phone or in the practice. The practice words the consent text with its data protection advisor; the form provides the field. The article on the psychotherapy practice describes the same principle for a particularly sensitive field.
Pain belongs on the phone
After sending: notification, status, deletion
Every request from the form lands in the “Requests” tab in XICflow. If a notification email address is entered, it also goes to the practice inbox.
The message carries a subject line with the name of the website and contains name, email, phone, message and all custom fields (XICflow documentation) – so the reason and preferred time as well. Clicking “Reply” answers the person who sent the request. In the list, the team filters by “All,” “New,” “Read” and “Archived” (XICflow documentation); changing the status is reserved for the “Editor” role and above. For the season this results in a simple routine: the front desk works through the new requests in the morning, calls back, enters the appointment in the practice software and archives the entry. By default, requests are kept for 180 days and then deleted automatically and for good, archived ones included (XICflow documentation). The appointment itself belongs in the practice software; the website inbox is not a patient register.
The FAQ: answers before the phone rings
The questions around the bonus booklet repeat themselves every year: is an appointment in December enough? What if a stamp is missing? Does the electronic booklet count? What applies to children?
These answers belong on the appointment page as an FAQ, directly below the form. The FAQ block shows questions and answers that expand on click, and according to the documentation of the basic blocks, all FAQ blocks on a page “together produce one machine-readable question-and-answer block for search engines” (XICflow documentation). Each answer sticks to the law and to what the practice itself can do. “Yes, a check-up in December counts for calendar year 2026” is correct. “That secures your bonus” is a promise on behalf of the health insurer and does not belong on the page. A last-reviewed date below the FAQ shows when the information was last checked; in January it is renewed together with the notice band.
Professional rules: inform, do not push
Besides general competition law, dentists in Germany are bound by the professional code of their state dental chamber.
The Model Professional Code of the German Dental Association serves as a recommendation for the state dental chambers (Model Professional Code, BZÄK); what is binding is the code of the practice’s own chamber, whose wording the practice checks before going live. Section 21 of the Model Professional Code permits appropriate information about the dentist’s professional activity (Model Professional Code, BZÄK) and names as contrary to professional law in particular laudatory, misleading, disparaging or comparative advertising (Model Professional Code, BZÄK). The German Therapeutic Products Advertising Act adds in Section 3 that misleading advertising is inadmissible (HWG). A seasonal notice about free check-up slots is information. A promise about the result of a treatment is not, and neither is wording that threatens patients with losing their bonus. What else a practice page needs in terms of mandatory information is summarized in the article Medical practice website: compliant and patient-friendly.
From October to January: the process in six steps
- End of October: block check-up windows for November and December in the calendar, set a buffer for urgent cases and decide on the closing days between Christmas and New Year.
- Early November: place the notice band “Check-up still due in 2026?” on the home page and the appointment page, with the link going straight to the form.
- At the same time: set up the form with dropdowns for reason and preferred time, make consent a required field and test the notification address with a trial request.
- Ongoing: work through requests daily, set the status and adjust the date in the band when the windows run short.
- Mid-December: switch the notice to the last free day and enter opening hours and cover arrangements for the holidays.
- Early January: replace the band, for example with “Check-up for 2027 already planned?”, and update the FAQ for the new year with a new review date.
With XICflow this is not a website rebuild but seasonal upkeep of four blocks: notice band, form, opening hours and FAQ. What else the platform handles, from the editor to the requests inbox, is described on the features page. The Physiopraxis Nord demo among the example websites shows what a practice website built with XICflow looks like – a physiotherapy practice whose structure carries over to a dental practice. And because the next season follows the bonus booklet season, it is worth looking at courses with insurance subsidies in the article Prevention courses 2027. The work on the bonus booklet page then pays off a second time: once the front desk questions have been collected and answered factually, those answers can be reused every year with a new date – and the team on the phone gains time for the patients who are standing in the practice right now.