Welcome to Dental Costs Australia

Your Dental Guide for all your Dental Needs

Dental Costs Australia aims to provide all the latest information on dental procedures, advanced dental technologies, recovery tips, costs and other dental information to help patients avoid high dental costs in Australia. Here you can find up to date information about all major dental treatments including dental implants, wisdom teeth removal, invisible braces and dental insurance cost.

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A dental implant (which is an artificial root placed in your jaw to hold a replacement tooth of bridge) may be the only option moving forward.

This treatment is  common nowadays, but you must first come to the decision of either keeping your tooth, or getting it extracted to allow for a dental implant. know more
Fixed braces use wires and brackets to move your teeth into straighter alignment and are also noticeable. Invisible braces are very difficult to be noticed as per the name itself. know more

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There are several types of Wisdom Teeth Impaction, angulation and level difficulty.

These should be discussed with your dentist who can help with simple extractions. know more


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The cost of dental work is on the rise in Australia, so you need to consider the best dental insurance options when having dental work done. With the right insurance plan, you could save a huge amount of money. know more
Dental Costs in Australia are among the most expensive in the world if not the most expensive. Although one of the richest countries in the world the general population suffers from very poor dental care due to numerous attempts of failed public policies and a lot of times unaffordable private sector prices.

The general public and patients are always questioning the high dental costs for wisdom teeth removal, dental implants, invisible braces and others. With the help of faster access to information such as internet it is now much easier to find a larger variety of treatment options and fees in dentistry in Australia or even overseas.

There is often and association that a cheap dentist is not a good dentist but this blog site will try to help you find affordable dental treatment even in big cities like Sydney and Melbourne. More affordable dental treatment is becoming a reality but sadly some business or part of the industry is still trying to keep the high fees by scaring patients with misleading websites or messages that try to justify their unreasonable high dental implant cost in Australia.
 
We decided to create this website to alert the general public of the tactics that could be used to scare patients from looking for better dental costs and different options when treatment is needed. These websites and other forms of media are rarely impartial and will most likely link you to their own private clinics with their own interests. Be Aware and engage in one of our blog pages above to discuss and ask questions regarding dental costs in Melbourne Sydney and overseas.

General Dentists and Specialists: Be Aware!

With statements such as “Compare apples with apples " and other similar phrases some of these dental clinics employ their own dental specialists and use this tactic to justify much higher fees.

As per the name itself, Dental Specialists are needed for special or complex, less usual cases in areas or circumstances where a General Dentist does find himself less capable to offer the best treatment outcome.  Although not legally necessary in all cases, specialists should see such cases with a referral from a general dentist.
For obvious reasons and a simple matter of numbers, specialists are not as readily available as general dentists and by a simple consequence, will generally need to charge a higher fee for a more complex case.

In the great majority of cases, Dental specialists will work independently, within their own practice. They rely on independent genuine referrals from other general dentists who will refer based on the specialist s reputation and good record and not just for being in the same clinic or location. Be Aware!

Registered Dentists in Australia are strictly qualified to perform the great majority of all dental cases and are also well trained to know when to refer complex cases to specialists.

Seeing a Dentist prior to a Specialist not only makes sense but is most certainly the best logistical and financial way to address dental problems or to prevent it.
The role of a good General Dentist is and has always been in Dental Treatment and not just in Preventive Dentistry or check-ups.  Changing this order would certainly incur higher dental costs to patients in Australia.

It is important to remember that a more affordable or cheap dental implant or a wisdom teeth removal surgery can simply be the way for thousands of patients on a budget to have dental care.

Dental Tourism Overseas

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Travelling overseas and specially the most popular , Thailand , to avoid the high dentals costs in Australia has been done for decades and with lower air fares it is now a larger industry than ever before.

Assuming that one country is better than another in health care including dentistry in today’s world is not only a misconception but also ignorance or arrogance.

Dentistry is extremely similar around the world and most dental suppliers are multinational companies readily available everywhere in the world.
Dental courses and education is also available all around the world and a large number of dentists around the world speak English.

As within any Industry, there are good and bad professionals, labs, infection control, clinics and different levels of skills everywhere and the public should carefully compare advantages and disadvantages
 of having treatment in Australia and overseas.

Factors to consider:
Length of treatment, airfares, the type of dental work needed (cosmetics, wisdom teeth removal, dental implants, envisaging, root canal treatment, extractions ...) , English skills of the provider, consequences in case a review is needed and many more factors.

There is no right answer. Every patient and case is different and there is now a lot more options and much more affordable treatment in Australia as well if good research is done.

Therefore it is more than ok to research treatment overseas but also the general public should not assume that every clinic and dentist costs in Australia is affordable. Do your research for a good value and quality domestically as well.


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Background costs

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Background costs can vary greatly from clinics to clinics and dentist.

Laboratory fees and Materials are common ones and patients should never assume that a more expensive crown or materials in general would be better for their treatment.

There are different levels of skill and experience in every field and the best is to ask your dentist by who and which labs the clinic uses. You can always look yourself and try to find more information about the company once the name is given to you and make a better decision.

Practice and Clinics Appearance and Looks

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Be cautious to not make your dentist s decision and clinic location only regarding appearance and flashy looks.

A clinic full of marble, mirrors and expensive furniture and fish tanks do not necessarily means better treatment and obviously certainly not better value. Think about your priorities when it comes to your treatment and remember that at the end your teeth and a impeccable infection control should be the priority.
Genuine ,  friendly staff and skilled professionals are the most important support you need.


Why so much difference between Dental Fees and Prices?

There are no standard fees and prices for services provided by dentists. It is not like medical services covered by Medicare, which have prescribed fees in Australia.This means a patient can get 10 very different treatment plans from 10 different dentists – and each can charge as they please.

Why? Dentistry is regulated by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) through the Dental Board of Australia (DBA), which provides registration standards, codes of conduct as well as guidelines for professional practice. These standards and guidelines only focus on ensuring quality of care and don't extend to pricing or prescribe a treatment method for each dental service. 

Dentists' prices depend on a range of factors – such as location, overheads and differences in the method used (e.g. there's different ways to provide a filling) . 

This means costs for the same procedure can vary because it may take longer to perform on some patients, or dentists might use different techniques, or the degree of difficulty could vary. 

Variations in the treatment method and materials offered by clinicians for the same item numbers mean you won't necessarily want to choose your dentist based on cost alone, however it does help to have an idea of just how much other dental practitioners are charging for similar services. 

How much does a dental check-up cost?To see just how much dental fees varied, The website Choice conducted a mystery shop by calling a total of 35 dental clinics across all eight states and territories (we included a mixture of capital city and regional dentists). They enquired about the cost of a check-up – comprehensive oral exam (item number 011), scale and clean (114) and a fluoride treatment (121) – as a new patient without private health insurance. We also checked the price for two X-rays (022). 


What we found: 

The cost of a check-up (oral exam/scale and clean/fluoride treatment) varied from $150 to $305, with an average price of $231. 
Need X-rays? Add another $89.50 for two, on average.

Results of CHOICE's mystery shop
  • Cheapest: $150
  • Most expensive: $305
  • Average cost of a dental check-up: $231


Average cost of a check-upEach year, the ADA surveys dental practitioners (in 2016 they had 2811 responses from practitioners and specialists) to provide average price data on over 100 dental treatments/item numbers. 

According to the ADA's fee data, the average cost of the same check-up we mystery shopped – including the examination, scale and clean and a fluoride treatment – is around $222 (add an average of $90 for two X-rays).

The ADA fee survey also shows big price discrepancies for the cost of dental work across Australia. 
For example, prices for a tooth extraction (311) varied from $135 to $295, an anterior filling (521) from $115 to $206 and a crown (615) from $1261 to $1945. 

In terms of price, the ACT most often had the most expensive price, followed by Tasmania; and South Australia most often had the cheapest, followed by Western Australia.


​You're also likely to pay more if you see a specialist as opposed to a general practitioner. 
Specialists, in addition to meeting all the minimum requirements of practising as a general dental practitioner, must have completed two years of general dentistry practice and hold a qualification in their specialist area. 


What's the average cost of a trip to the dentist?

Average dental fees charged by dental GPs – based on the Australian Dental Association's annual fee surveyProcedure (Item number)

                                                                                                                                             Average cost*            Range 
Diagnostic and preventative

Comprehensive oral exam (011)                                                                                   $66                                $51–92 
                                                                                              
X-ray (per exposure) (022)                                                                                            $45                                $30–58

Scale and clean (removal of plaque and calculus) (114)                                          $118                                $91–157

Fluoride treatment (121)                                                                                                $38                                 $22–62 

Fissure sealing (per tooth) (161)                                                                                   $59                                 $40–86 

 Oral surgery

Tooth extraction (311)                                                                                                    $185                               $135–295 

 Endodontics

Preparation of root canal (chemo-mechanical) – one canal (415)                      $278                               $183–410 

Preparation of root canal (chemo-mechanical) – one canal (416)                      $136                                $94-214
 
Restorative

Filling – anterior tooth – 1 surface (521)                                                                   $153                                 $115–206
 
Filling – anterior tooth – 2 surfaces (522)                                                                $182                                $141–248 

Filling – posterior tooth – 1 surface (531)                                                                 $163                                 $121–220 

Filling – posterior tooth – 2 surfaces (532)                                                              $202                                $151–285 

 Prosthodontics

Full crown (veneered) – indirect (615)                                                                       $1558                               $1261–1945 

Denture (complete maxillary) (711)                                                                            $1298                               $943–1990 

Table notes
*Fees charged for the most common services provided by general dental practitioners (averages for specialists vary). Data based on the ADA's 2016 dental fee survey (not including the top or bottom 5% of prices).

DISCLAIMER:
All information on this website is not intended to substitute professional dental service or advice from a licensed practitioner. We do not accept any responsibility for any errors or emissions. Your physician or health care practitioner should be consulted if you have any medical questions needed to be addressed as we cannot provide you this information. By purchasing or using products and/or services recommended on this website you are agreeing to the fact that you have acknowledge and understood the risks involved and that any adverse effect will not be the responsibility of Dental Costs Australia.