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Who we serve / Self-pay patients

Find out what treatment costs before you pick up the phone.

If you are paying out of pocket, the hardest part is usually not choosing a dentist. It is working out whether the number you were given is reasonable, and what it actually includes. This side of the system runs through DentalPrice.

How it works

Four steps, and none of them cost you anything.

  1. Start with the procedure, not the practice

    Look up the treatment you have been told you need. What it involves, what is normally included in a quote for it, and what tends to get quoted separately.

  2. See what practices near you charge

    Cost for that procedure in your area, so the first number you hear has something to sit against. A single quote in isolation tells you nothing about whether it is reasonable.

  3. Contact the practices you want to

    You choose who to talk to and you talk to them directly. There is no membership, no card and nothing sitting between you and the dentist.

  4. Confirm the plan at the consult

    Any figure you saw beforehand is an estimate until a dentist examines you. The consult is where the plan and the price become real.

Treatments

The care people most often pay for themselves

Insurance either does not cover these or covers a fraction of them, which is why the cost question comes up before the clinical one.

  • General Dentistry
  • Orthodontics
  • Cosmetic Dentistry
  • Pediatric Dentistry
  • Periodontics
  • Endodontics
  • Oral Surgery
  • Dental Anesthesia

What this is not

Three things worth being clear about.

No membership fee
You are not buying a plan. Looking up cost and contacting a practice does not put anything between you and the dentist you choose.
Scope shown with the number
A price with no scope attached is the thing worth questioning. Imaging, lab work, the crown and the follow-up are not always in the figure you were quoted.
Cost is not a quality score
A lower price does not mean worse care and a higher one does not guarantee better. Use cost to build a shortlist you can afford, then choose on the consult.

A note for anyone in pain

If you have swelling, a fever, or pain you cannot manage, do not spend the evening comparing prices. Call a practice or an emergency dental service now. Cost is a question for a decision you have time to make.

Patient questions

What people ask before they book

Neither. It is cost context before you book. You are looking at what a procedure involves and what practices near you charge for it, then choosing who to contact. There is no membership between you and the practice.

Materials, lab work, imaging, sedation, how much of the work is done in house and where the practice is located all move the number. A single price with no scope attached is the part worth questioning, not the range itself.

No, and it does not mean higher quality either. Price alone does not tell you about clinical outcome. Use cost to build a shortlist you can afford, then choose on the consult, the treatment plan and the dentist.

The practice answers you directly and books the consult. Any quote you saw beforehand is an estimate until a dentist examines you, because the plan can change once someone looks at the actual tooth.

Are you a practice, rather than a patient?

The other half of this system is built for the practice taking the call. Same economics, opposite end.