How We Calculate Dental Prices

Where Our Prices Come From

Each procedure has one national cash-pay low and high in our source file, plus narrower bands for common sub-procedures and their ADA codes. Those national figures are editorial benchmarks. We use public ADA Health Policy Institute material (the ADA's public fee survey ended in 2023) and published FAIR Health dental lookups as reference points. We do not import a FAIR Health fee for each city into the page.

Patient-reported amounts are a separate list. They show up only after review, they are labeled as anecdotal, and they do not change the estimated range.

How We Adjust Prices by City

A city page takes the national low and high and multiplies both by that metro's cost index, then rounds to the nearest $5. The index lives in our city file. New York and San Francisco are 1.40. Tulsa is 0.85. Many metros share an index, so they display the same dollar range for a procedure. The index is not a zip-code fee survey and it is not a live Bureau of Labor Statistics series.

A handful of indexes (including New York, Boston, Los Angeles, and Houston) were desk-checked against published state-level benchmarks. Most of the other 50 metros were not. Treat every city figure as a modeled range.

What “Cash Pay” Means

Cash pay here means an uninsured or self-pay patient paying the office directly. That is often the office fee schedule, which is usually higher than an in-network contracted rate. Some offices also offer a cash discount or a membership rate. Our range does not separate those tiers.

How Often We Update

National bands and city indexes change when we edit the source files. There is no quarterly sign-off and no per-page “last reviewed” date. The reviewer seat is empty, so we do not print a review date. Patient-reported prices are added when a submission is approved.

Corrections

If a range, code, or explanation is wrong, email hello@toothprice.com or use the contact page. Say which URL and what the office estimate showed, including ADA codes if you have them. We correct the source file; we do not backdate a review that did not happen.

What We Will Never Do

• Recommend specific procedures or treatments
• Diagnose dental conditions or provide medical advice
• Publish a city price that is a measured local fee when it is only the national band times an index
• Accept payment from dentists in exchange for editorial placement
• List fabricated reviewers or invented credentials

Our Affiliate Relationships

We earn commissions when readers click certain links to dental financing partners (CareCredit, DentalPlans.com, Sesame Care, Sunbit). This never affects the prices we display or the editorial integrity of our content. Full disclosure on every page that contains affiliate links.