Dental public coverage: Japan, 2020

Dental Market Radar Editorial Team · Updated 2026-11-09 · Data as of 2020-12-31

Japan: Universal public insurance covers a wide range of dental treatment with copayment by age (30% ages 6-69 for most insured; 20% pre-school children and 70-74; 10% 75+; 30% for high-income elderly). Implants, orthodontics and newer-material restorations are generally excluded. Oral appliances for sleep apnoea are reimbursed on physician referral (FY2018 fee schedule). in 2020, according to International Dental Journal Global Neglect of Dental Coverage in Universal Health Coverage Systems and Japan’s Broad Coverage. Basis: other.

Comparability B Confidence medium

Cite this

International Dental Journal (peer-reviewed commentary). (2026). Dental public coverage: Japan, as of 2020-12-31 [Data set]. Compiled by Dental Market Radar. https://dentalmarketradar.com/data/jp/dental-public-coverage/2020/

Permanent URL: https://dentalmarketradar.com/data/jp/dental-public-coverage/2020/. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Record

Value: Universal public insurance covers a wide range of dental treatment with copayment by age (30% ages 6-69 for most insured; 20% pre-school children and 70-74; 10% 75+; 30% for high-income elderly). Implants, orthodontics and newer-material restorations are generally excluded. Oral appliances for sleep apnoea are reimbursed on physician referral (FY2018 fee schedule).
Unit: text
As of: 2020-12-31
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Revision: 1
Confidence: medium
Method: reported
Basis: other
Scope: other
Comparability: Comparability B B: close to the metric definition; the difference is noted
Status: Latest record for this market and metric

Source quote

The insurance system covers not only medical treatments but also a wide range of dental treatments, with the excep- tion of dental implants, orthodontic treatments, and treat- ments using newer materials that could be substituted by more conventional materials.

English: quoted from the Int Dent J 2020 commentary (see notes for the other two sources)

Locator: p.1 (right column, first paragraph)

Local definition

Scope of Japan statutory health insurance for dental care

Source

International Dental Journal (peer-reviewed commentary): Global Neglect of Dental Coverage in Universal Health Coverage Systems and Japan’s Broad Coverage (Int Dent J 2020). Registry entry: jp-idj-commentary-2020.

Notes

Composite of three fetched sources: MHLW English overview (copayment tiers, 01_eng.pdf), Int Dent J 2020 commentary (exclusions, 10.8% uninsured), MHLW Hokkaido bureau FY2018 fee-schedule summary (OSA appliance). Exclusions come from the peer-reviewed commentary, not an MHLW page; review annually.

Metric definition

What public (social or national) health insurance pays for in dental care; short text, original scope noted All markets for this metric.

History

Current records for Dental public coverage, Japan, newest first
Year	Value	Basis	As of	Comparability	Source	Series break
2020	Universal public insurance covers a wide range of dental treatment with copayment by age (30% ages 6-69 for most insured; 20% pre-school children and 70-74; 10% 75+; 30% for high-income elderly). Implants, orthodontics and newer-material restorations are generally excluded. Oral appliances for sleep apnoea are reimbursed on physician referral (FY2018 fee schedule).	other	2020-12-31	Comparability B	Global Neglect of Dental Coverage in Universal Health Coverage Systems and Japan’s Broad Coverage (Int Dent J 2020)

Please also cite the original source above.

Same metric in other markets

Taiwan South Korea Singapore Malaysia Thailand Vietnam Australia New Zealand Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates Qatar