FairVisitHealth Data Report · July 2026
The State of Self-Pay Dental Pricing in America
Dental care is the one corner of American health care where self-pay is the norm, not the fallback: insurers are exempt from federal price transparency, typical plans cap benefits at $1,000 to $2,000 a year, and most major work is paid in cash. This report assembles the price signals that do exist, from 39 Medicaid fee schedules (38 states + DC), 127 benchmarked procedures, and dentists who publish their own prices.
Every figure below names its source and collection date. Registry prices are re-verified monthly against the provider pages they came from.
Key Findings
0 rates
Dental is exempt from federal price transparency
The federal Transparency in Coverage rule forces medical insurers to publish every negotiated rate, but standalone dental plans are classified as "excepted benefits" and publish nothing. We verified this directly: our corpus of 37 million insurer-negotiated rates parsed from Cigna, Anthem, and other carrier files contains zero dental CDT codes. A patient can look up what every insurer pays for an MRI, and no one can look up what Delta Dental pays for a crown.
Source: FairVisitHealth analysis of Transparency in Coverage machine-readable files, July 2026; 45 CFR 147.210
5.7x
The same crown pays nearly 6x differently by state
Across the 39 Medicaid dental fee schedules we compiled (38 states plus Washington DC), the program fee for the identical porcelain crown (CDT D2740) ranges from $252 in Texas to $1,432 in Delaware, a 5.7x spread. A simple extraction (D7140) ranges from $27 in Florida to $220 in Delaware, an 8.1x spread. A molar root canal (D3330) ranges from $235 in Illinois to $1,143 in Washington DC. These are the rates states pay dentists, and they are the single biggest reason low-income patients in some states cannot find a dentist who accepts Medicaid.
Source: FairVisitHealth compilation of 39 published Medicaid dental fee schedules (AK, AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, DC, DE, FL, HI, ID, IL, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MO, MT, ND, NE, NH, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, VA, VT, WA, WV, WY), 2023-2026 effective rates
$12,495-$20,000
Full-arch implant prices, from dentists who dare to publish
Most implant centers hide prices behind a "free consultation." Among providers who publish real prices on their own websites, a full-arch (All-on-4 style) restoration runs $12,495 to $20,000 per arch in acrylic, and $16,000 to $24,000 in zirconia. Transparent single-implant packages (post, abutment, and crown included) run $1,700 to $2,875. Every price in our registry links to the provider page it appeared on and is re-verified monthly.
Source: FairVisitHealth dentist published-price registry: 43 verified prices from 24 providers, collected and source-verified July 9, 2026
~74%
Dental schools price near a quarter of the top private rate
Across the 127 procedures in our CDT benchmark database, dental school clinic estimates average about 74% below the top of the private-practice cash range for the same procedure. The work is performed by supervised students and residents, appointments run longer, and 65 CODA-accredited schools operate public clinics nationwide. For patients who can wait, it is the largest legitimate discount in American dentistry.
Source: FairVisitHealth CDT benchmark database (127 procedures, 7 price sources per procedure), July 2026
$1,500 vs $2,499
The same four wisdom teeth, priced 66% apart
Published package prices for removing all four wisdom teeth with IV sedation range from $1,500 at flat-fee oral surgery clinics in Texas to $2,499 in Florida. Clinics built on transparent pricing charge a flat $250 per tooth regardless of impaction; traditional oral surgery practices that publish fee schedules price the same extraction at $508 to $750 per tooth. Calling two extra offices routinely saves four figures on this one procedure.
Source: FairVisitHealth dentist published-price registry, provider-published fee schedules verified July 9, 2026
$1,000-$2,000
The annual maximum makes major dental work self-pay by design
Typical dental insurance caps its total annual payout at $1,000 to $2,000, an amount that has barely moved in decades while dental fees have multiplied. One crown or root canal can exhaust the benefit for the year, which means nearly every American getting an implant, full dentures, or multiple major procedures is effectively a cash payer for most of the bill, whether insured or not.
Source: National Association of Dental Plans industry reporting; ADA Health Policy Institute
What Dental Care Costs in 2026
National benchmarks from our CDT database. Cash is the private-practice self-pay range; insurer-allowed is a modeled estimate of what plans typically approve; Medicaid is the min-max program fee across the 28 states we compiled. Each procedure links to a full guide with state-level detail.
| Procedure | CDT | Cash range | Insurer-allowed* | Dental school | Medicaid (39 schedules) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adult cleaning | D1110 | $50-$200 | $85-$130 | ~$72 | $34-$86 |
| Full-mouth X-rays | D0210 | $75-$275 | $120-$180 | ~$65 | $32-$123 |
| Composite filling (1 surface) | D2391 | $90-$340 | $150-$235 | ~$125 | $36-$170 |
| Porcelain crown | D2740 | $600-$2,000 | $900-$1,400 | ~$750 | $252-$1,432 |
| Molar root canal | D3330 | $550-$1,850 | $855-$1,340 | ~$710 | $235-$956 |
| Simple extraction | D7140 | $90-$350 | $155-$245 | ~$130 | $27-$220 |
| Complete denture (per arch) | D5110 | $900-$3,000 | $1,400-$2,190 | ~$1,160 | $311-$1,608 |
| Single implant (post only) | D6010 | $1,100-$3,700 | $1,715-$2,680 | ~$1,420 | $373-$2,001 (few states) |
*Modeled from published fee-survey data (50th percentile); individual plan rates vary and are not publicly disclosed. Dental school figures are typical clinic estimates. Sources: FairVisitHealth CDT benchmark database and compiled state Medicaid fee schedules, July 2026. Prices vary by location and case complexity; nothing here is a quote.
The Data Behind This Report
127
CDT procedures benchmarked
7 price sources per procedure: cash, insurer-allowed estimate, Medicaid, dental school, FQHC, discount plan
28
State Medicaid dental fee schedules
Compiled from published state fee schedules; expanding as states publish
43
Dentist-published prices verified
24 providers; every row source-linked and re-verified monthly
390K+
Dentists transparency-scored
Exclusion lists, credentials, chain ownership, patient ratings
Method notes
Medicaid fees come from each state program’s published fee schedule (2024-2026 effective dates); states that gate schedules behind provider portals or license click-throughs (GA, NJ, WI, IA, KS, RI, IN, UT) are excluded until they publish, as are hosts that block automated retrieval (AK, ME, VT, MA, CT, AR) and formats our parser cannot yet verify safely (AL, HI, MN, MS, NC, ND, OR, VA); Idaho is included from its newest published (2023) schedule. Registry prices are captured verbatim from provider websites with the source URL stored per row and re-verified monthly; prices that disappear from a source page are flagged, never silently updated. Insurer-allowed figures are modeled estimates, not disclosed rates, because dental insurers publish none.
Questions This Report Answers
Why is there no price transparency for dental insurance?
Federal transparency rules cover medical insurance, but standalone dental plans are legally classified as "excepted benefits" under 45 CFR 147.210 and are exempt from publishing their negotiated rates. FairVisitHealth verified the gap directly: a corpus of 37 million insurer-negotiated medical rates parsed from carrier transparency files contains zero dental CDT codes. Until the law changes, the only public dental price signals are state Medicaid fee schedules, dentists who voluntarily publish prices, and patient-reported amounts.
How much do dental prices vary across the United States?
Enormously, at every layer. Across 39 published Medicaid fee schedules (38 states plus DC), the program fee for the same porcelain crown varies 5.7x ($252 in Texas to $1,432 in Delaware) and a simple extraction varies 8.1x ($27 in Florida to $220 in Delaware). Among dentists who publish their own prices, all-four wisdom teeth packages with IV sedation vary 66% ($1,500 to $2,499), and full-arch implant restorations span $12,495 to $20,000 per arch. Two phone calls in the same city routinely produce quotes thousands of dollars apart.
Are dental schools really cheaper, and is the care safe?
Across 127 benchmarked procedures, dental school clinic estimates average about 74% below the top of the private-practice cash range. All 65 clinics operate under CODA accreditation with licensed faculty supervising every step. The trade-offs are real but manageable: appointments take two to three times longer and waitlists can run months. For crowns, dentures, and implants, schools are the largest legitimate discount in U.S. dentistry.
How do people afford dental implants without insurance?
Dental insurance rarely helps with implants because typical plans cap annual payouts at $1,000 to $2,000. Cash payers use four levers: dental schools (implants at roughly half of private rates), providers who publish transparent package prices ($1,700 to $2,875 for a complete single implant at verified clinics), dental savings plans (15% to 40% network discounts with no annual maximum), and itemized negotiation, since the post, abutment, and crown are often quoted separately.
Journalists and researchers
Cite this report as “FairVisitHealth, The State of Self-Pay Dental Pricing in America, 2026.” Every finding has a stable anchor link. For underlying data, custom cuts, or interviews: [email protected]