Dentists in Cyprus: Costs, GESY Dental Care for Children and How to Find One

GESY pays for one preventive dental visit a year, and that is all: a check-up for everyone, plus a cleaning from age 6 and fluoride for children aged 6 to 12. Fillings, extractions, root canals, braces and crowns are paid privately, out of your own pocket or through private insurance. Here is what is covered, what the school programmes add for children, and how to find and check a dentist in Cyprus.

What dental care does GESY cover?

Dentists became part of GESY, the General Healthcare System, on 1 December 2020, more than a year after the system first opened to patients. The Health Insurance Organisation describes the service as preventive dental care for beneficiaries, and dentists who have signed a contract with GESY provide it.

The cover is one routine visit a year, and what that visit includes depends on age:

Anything beyond that visit is outside GESY. That includes fillings, extractions, root canal treatment, gum (periodontal) treatment, orthodontics, crowns, implants, dentures, whitening, and even extra check-ups or extra fluoride applications that your dentist recommends.

The scheme is small compared with the rest of GESY. The Official Gazette set the budget for GESY dental services at €12.2 million for 2024. In 2025, 34.1% of beneficiaries used their yearly dental visit, up from 32.7% in 2024. In other words, two out of three people entitled to a free cleaning do not take it.

Who can use it?

Anyone registered with GESY, including dependent children. If you are not yet registered, start with our complete guide to GESY, which explains who is eligible as an EU citizen, a UK national or a non-EU resident.

How to book your GESY dental visit

1. Find a dentist contracted to GESY with the Providers Search on gesy.org.cy (choose the dentists category), or ask your current dentist whether they work with GESY.
2. Call the practice and ask for the yearly preventive visit under GESY. Ask whether there is a co-payment, and whether you need a referral from your personal doctor first.
3. Take your ID card or residence document so the practice can confirm your GESY registration.
4. At the visit, the dentist will tell you if you need treatment. That treatment is private, so ask for a price first.

Book early in the year if you can. The visit is once a year per person, and popular practices fill up.

What dental care is free for children in Cyprus?

On top of GESY, the Ministry of Health's Dental Services have run school dental programmes for several years with the Ministry of Education.

For the 2024–2025 school year, a Ministry of Education circular dated 18 September 2024 set out two programmes:

• Year 1 and Year 5 pupils (Grade A and Grade E) in public and private primary schools were examined at school by government dentists. Children who needed treatment were referred to a participating private dentist of the family's choice, and the state paid that dentist at the government price list. Parents filled in a consent form sent home by the school.
• Mobile dental units visited selected primary schools to give preventive care and treatment to Year 4 and Year 6 pupils (Grade D and Grade ST). Only the schools named in the circular took part.

Both programmes were free for families. The same arrangement applied to fifth graders in October 2023, when examinations ran from October to January and families had until the end of the following September to use the referral.

For 2026–2027: the new circular had not been published by 19 October 2026. The programme has run in this form every recent year, but do not assume the same year groups or dates. If your child is in primary school, watch for a consent form from the school in the autumn term and return it quickly. Pupils at international schools that are registered as private primary schools were included in 2024–25, so ask your school whether it takes part.

Can adults get dental care at state hospitals or health centres?

A small public dental service still exists alongside GESY. The Ministry of Health has dental clinics in some state health centres. When the clinics at the old Nicosia General Hospital closed in November 2022, patients in the Nicosia district were directed to health centres such as Aglantzia, Lakatamia, Engomi, Strovolos, Kaimakli, Latsia and Dali, and the rural centres at Akaki, Lythrodontas, Palaichori and Paliometocho kept their dental clinics.

Access is limited. People over 65, disability pensioners and people with chronic illnesses may get dental treatment in the public sector free or at a reduced rate. Everyone else pays the full cost. If you think you qualify, ask at your local state health centre what documents they need.

Visiting with an EHIC? Dental care is usually not reimbursed in Cyprus, and private dental treatment cannot be reimbursed at all, so treat any dental work on holiday as a cost you will pay yourself unless your travel insurance says otherwise.

How much does a dentist cost in Cyprus?

There is no official public price list for private dental treatment in the Republic of Cyprus, and dentists set their own fees. There is no published fee guide for dentists in Cyprus, so ask for a written estimate. Many figures you will see online come from clinics marketing dental tourism, often in the north of the island, and do not reflect what a dentist in Limassol or Nicosia charges.

What the official data shows is that dental care is one of the biggest health costs Cypriots pay themselves. Public cover pays for less than 15% of dental care in Cyprus, against an EU average of around 35%.

To keep costs under control:

• Use your free GESY cleaning every year. It is the cheapest way to catch problems early.
• Ask for a written estimate before any treatment beyond a check-up, listing each tooth and procedure.
• Get a second opinion for large plans such as implants, several crowns or orthodontics, and compare two or three practices.
• Ask about staged payments for long treatments such as braces.
• Keep your receiptsEspecially if you have private insurance or a policy from your employer.

Does private health insurance cover dentists?

Sometimes, but rarely in full. Basic policies sold for residence permit applications usually exclude dental treatment, so do not count on them; our guide to health insurance for a residence permit explains what those plans cover. Fuller local and international plans may offer dental cover as an extra, usually with limits per year and waiting periods. Before you pay for an add-on, ask the insurer in writing what is covered (check-ups, fillings, root canals, orthodontics for children), the yearly limit, any waiting period, and whether you can use any dentist or only those in its network. Our guide to private hospitals and clinics explains how private cover works alongside GESY.

How do you find a good dentist in Cyprus?

Check the dentist is registered

Every dentist practising in Cyprus must be on the Cyprus Dentist Register, kept by the Cyprus Dental Council, and hold a yearly professional practice licence from the Cyprus Dental Association. Both bodies share the website dental.org.cy. Membership of the Association is compulsory for practising dentists, so it is not a mark of quality in itself, but a dentist who is not registered should not be treating you.

Cyprus recognises a small number of dental specialties: orthodontics, oral surgery and maxillofacial surgery. There were 61 registered orthodontists and around 30 oral and maxillofacial surgeons in 2024, mostly in the main towns. Paediatric dentistry and implantology are not separate recognised specialties, so a dentist who offers them is a general dentist with extra training; ask where they trained.

Language and practical points

Cyprus had about 1,270 active dentists in 2024, so there is plenty of choice in every town. When you choose, consider:

• whether the practice is contracted to GESY, so you can have your yearly cleaning there;
• whether it treats young children (ask before booking a toddler's first visit);
• parking and opening hours, including whether it opens on Saturdays;
• whether it gives written estimates and explains treatment options in English.

Recommendations from colleagues, neighbours and parents at your children's school are still the most common way expats find a dentist they stay with.

What to do in a dental emergency

There is no official weekend or holiday rota for dentists in Cyprus. If you have toothache or a broken tooth outside opening hours:

1. Call your own dentist. Many give an out-of-hours number on their voicemail or website.
2. Try other practices nearby in the morning; most keep slots for urgent cases.
3. Go to accident and emergency at the nearest general hospital, or call 112, for heavy bleeding that will not stop, a facial injury, a knocked-out adult tooth after a fall, or swelling that spreads to the eye, the neck or makes it hard to swallow. A&E deals with the emergency, not the dental repair, which you will then arrange with a dentist.

What to do next

1. Register with GESY if you have not already, then book this year's free check-up and cleaning for each family member with a contracted dentist.
2. Ask your children's primary school about the school dental programme and return any consent form.
3. Before any treatment, check your dentist on the register at dental.org.cy and ask for a written estimate.

Related guides: GESY in Cyprus: a complete guide, private hospitals and clinics in Cyprus, health insurance for a residence permit and the flu vaccine on GESY.