Dental price guide for 2026
Updated September 2026 · By the Mobile Phonebook editorial team · How we research pricing
Dentistry has no standard fee schedule, so the only way to know if a quote is fair is to know the national range. Everything below is a cash price before insurance, compiled in August 2026 and free for anyone to reuse. Start with the full dentists guide for how to pick someone in the first place. This page goes deep on one question.
What do dental procedures cost in 2026?
These are typical US self pay ranges, meaning what a person without insurance would be billed before any prompt pay discount or membership plan. Low end reflects lower cost metros and older equipment. High end reflects large coastal markets, specialists, and premium labs.
Two notes before you use the table. Prices are per tooth unless stated otherwise, and almost every restorative number excludes the exam and x-rays that come first.
| Procedure | Typical 2026 cash price | What moves the price |
|---|---|---|
| Exam, x-rays and cleaning, new patient bundle | $200 to $400 | Metro area, number of x-ray films |
| Routine cleaning, adult | $90 to $200 | Time since your last cleaning |
| Panoramic or full mouth x-rays | $100 to $250 | Number of images, digital or film |
| Amalgam filling, two surfaces | $150 to $300 | Silver amalgam is the cheaper material |
| Composite filling, one surface | $180 to $280 | Front teeth cost less than back teeth |
| Composite filling, three surfaces | $280 to $450 | Number of surfaces drilled |
| Crown, porcelain fused to metal | $900 to $1,600 | Metal type under the porcelain |
| Crown, all ceramic or zirconia | $1,000 to $2,000 | Lab quality, same day milling, metro |
| Root canal, front tooth | $700 to $1,700 | One canal, shortest chair time |
| Root canal, premolar | $800 to $1,800 | Two canals, more time |
| Root canal, molar | $850 to $2,100 | Three or more canals, endodontist premium |
| Simple extraction, erupted tooth | $150 to $350 | Tooth position and whether it is already loose |
| Surgical extraction | $250 to $600 | Bone removal or sectioning the tooth |
| Impacted wisdom tooth, per tooth | $300 to $800 | Soft tissue, partially bony, or fully bony |
| Deep cleaning, per quadrant | $185 to $450 | Tartar volume and pocket depth |
| Single implant, post plus abutment plus crown | $3,000 to $6,500 | Bone graft, extraction, metro |
| Full denture, one arch | $1,000 to $3,000 | Material tier, immediate or conventional |
| Partial denture, one arch | $800 to $3,100 | Cast metal frame or flexible base |
| Custom night guard from a dentist | $300 to $1,000 | Hard, soft or dual laminated, lab used |
| Porcelain veneer, per tooth | $900 to $2,500 | Lab artistry and how many teeth |
| In office whitening | $300 to $1,000 | Light activated systems cost more |
Compiled August 2026 from insurer pricing tools, published dental cost references and our own cost index. Planning ranges, not quotes.
Why does the same crown cost twice as much across town?
Cost of living explains most of the variation between states. Rent, wages and lab pricing all track it, and insurance reimbursement rates follow. Single implant averages in 2026 run roughly $3,700 in the lowest cost states and near $5,700 in California, against a national average around $4,200 to $4,500.
Inside one metro the spread comes from something else. Practice overhead, whether an associate or the owner does the work, whether the office uses a domestic or overseas lab, and whether the practice has production targets to hit. Calling three offices for the same procedure code is the fastest way to find your local middle.
| Market | Typical 2026 crown price | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Low cost states, smaller metros | $800 to $1,200 | Lower rent, wages and lab costs |
| National middle | $1,100 to $1,500 | Where most published averages land |
| Large coastal metros | $1,500 to $2,500 | Overhead plus premium labs and specialists |
| Dental school clinic | $400 to $900 | Supervised students, longer appointments |
What does insurance actually pay, and what is left for you?
Most plans follow a 100 80 50 structure. Preventive care at 100 percent, basic work like fillings around 80 percent, major work like crowns and dentures around 50 percent, all after a deductible that usually sits between $50 and $100. Plans can and do move a procedure into a lower tier, and some now pay major work at 20 percent.
Then the annual maximum caps everything. Roughly 65 percent of dental PPOs cap at $1,500 or more, and about a third still sit in the $1,000 to $1,500 band. One crown plus one molar root canal can exhaust a year of benefits in a single afternoon.
| Procedure | Typical 2026 cash price | What a typical plan leaves you |
|---|---|---|
| Exam, x-rays and cleaning | $200 to $400 | Often $0, preventive is usually paid in full |
| Composite filling | $180 to $450 | Roughly 20 percent after deductible, so $40 to $90 |
| Crown | $900 to $2,000 | Around 50 percent of the allowed fee, often $500 to $1,000 |
| Root canal, molar | $850 to $2,100 | 50 to 80 percent covered, and it eats your annual cap |
| Single implant | $3,000 to $6,500 | Frequently excluded, or paid at 50 percent up to the cap |
Coverage tiers vary by contract. Always read your own plan document rather than a generic summary.
How do you read a treatment plan estimate?
A real treatment plan lists every proposed procedure by its CDT code, the office fee, the estimated insurance portion, and your estimated share. If you are handed a single total with no codes, ask for the itemized version. Codes are what make a second opinion possible, because another office can price the exact same work.
The estimated insurance portion is an estimate. Offices generate it from a benefits check, not from a promise by the carrier. Ask whether they will submit a pre treatment estimate to your plan for anything over about $1,000, which gets you the carrier's own number in writing before the drill comes out.
Watch the sequencing too. If the plan totals more than your annual maximum, ask which items are urgent and whether the rest can wait until the benefit year resets. Phasing work across two years is normal, legitimate, and can cut what you pay out of pocket by a lot.
- Every line has a CDT procedure code and a tooth number
- Office fee, estimated plan payment, and your estimated portion are shown separately
- Lab fees, buildups, temporaries and anesthesia are listed rather than buried
- Urgent items are marked, and optional or watch and wait items are labeled as such
- There is a stated expiration date for the quoted fees
Where the cheaper option is genuinely fine
Not everything on this table needs to be bought at the top of the range. A custom night guard from a dentist runs $300 to $1,000. The same custom guard from an online lab, made from an impression you take at home, runs $50 to $200 and is FDA cleared. Over the counter boil and bite guards at $20 to $30 are the one to skip, because a bad fit can make grinding worse.
Same logic on whitening. Drugstore strips deliver most of the visible result for $20 to $60. And amalgam fillings are still cheaper and last longer than composite on back teeth. If nobody is going to see it, the silver one is a defensible choice, not a downgrade.
How to cite this data
This price guide is free to reuse. Quote any range in your reporting, newsletter, or research under Creative Commons BY 4.0, with attribution and a link back to mobilephonebook.org. No permission request needed and no fee.
The full machine readable cost index across every service category we track is available as a CSV at /costs.csv, and our sourcing methodology is published at /editorial-standards. If you need a figure broken out differently or want to check a number before you print it, the press page has our contact.
Suggested attribution line. Mobile Phonebook, 2026 Dental Price Guide, mobilephonebook.org.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a dental crown cost in 2026?
How much does a root canal cost by tooth?
What is the average cost of a dental implant?
How much is a deep cleaning per quadrant?
Can I use this dental price guide in my own article?
Why do dental prices vary so much by state?
What is a CDT code and why does it matter?
Where these numbers come from
Ranges on this page were compiled in September 2026 from the sources below plus our own 2026 cost index. They are planning figures, not quotes. Your market and your specific situation can land outside any range shown.
- Humana, cost of common dental procedures
- Humana, scaling and root planing cost
- Authority Dental, root canal cost with and without insurance
- GoodRx, how much does a dental night guard cost
- FAIR Health Consumer, dental cost lookup by ZIP code
- National Association of Dental Plans, understanding dental benefits
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