Effective 11 November 2026.
The Tooth Bill gives general information about costs only. It is not dental, medical, insurance, tax or financial advice. Your dentist decides what treatment suits you; your plan’s documents and a pre-treatment estimate decide what it pays.
General information only
Everything on The Tooth Bill (thetoothbill.com) is general information, published to help readers understand what dental work costs in the US and how people pay for it. It is not dental, medical, insurance, tax or financial advice, and it does not take your mouth, your health, your plan, your state, your income or your circumstances into account.
Not a dental practice, insurer, discount plan or lender
The Tooth Bill is not a dental practice, a dentist or other health professional, an insurer, an insurance agent or broker, a discount plan, a lender or a government agency. It does not provide dental care, sell or quote insurance or discount plans, arrange credit, or refer anyone to a dentist, plan or lender. Reading this site, using a calculator or writing to us does not create a dentist-patient relationship or any other professional relationship.
No treatment advice, and no view on your plan
Nothing on this site says which treatment to choose, whether a treatment is needed, or whether one option is better, safer or longer-lasting than another, and nothing on it reviews a reader’s treatment plan, quote, explanation of benefits or claim. Comparisons compare money and time only. Your dentist decides what treatment suits you, after examining you, and questions about your teeth or your health are for your dentist or another health professional.
Nothing here says what your plan, Medicare, Medicaid, the VA or any other program will pay for you, or whether you qualify for anything. Your plan’s documents, and a pre-treatment estimate from the plan, decide what it pays. Medicare and your Medicare Advantage plan’s evidence of coverage, your state Medicaid agency and the VA decide what they cover for you.
Prices vary
Prices on this site are published estimates from named sources, shown with their dates and what they measure. They are not quotes, and they are not what any dentist charges or what you will pay. Real fees vary by region, by city and by dental office, by who does the work, by the materials, imaging, lab work and sedation involved, and by what your treatment turns out to need. With a plan, what you pay depends on whether the dentist is in network, the plan’s allowed amounts, your deductible, coinsurance, annual maximum, waiting periods and exclusions. Some published figures come from companies that sell financing or insurance, and we say so beside them. Ask your dental office for a written treatment plan and your plan for a pre-treatment estimate.
Rules and figures change
Medicare’s dental rules can change with each year’s physician fee schedule. States change adult Medicaid dental benefits, often in their budgets. The IRS and CMS set new HSA, FSA and Marketplace limits each year. Lenders change their rates and promotional terms, and insurers change their plans each plan year. A rule or limit is right only for the period and the plans it applies to. Each one on this site shows its source and the date we read it, and it may have changed since. Check the current rule with the original source, your plan, the agency or the lender before you rely on it.
Tools show estimates, not quotes or decisions
Calculators do arithmetic on what you enter and on the published ranges, plan terms and rules they name. Their results are estimates. They are not a quote, a pre-treatment estimate, a coverage decision, a credit offer or a treatment recommendation. An out-of-pocket result shows what the plan terms you entered give for the fee you entered; your plan decides. A loan or deferred-interest result is an approximation; your credit agreement decides. Defaults that are our assumption are labelled, and you can change them.
Credit and financing
Where pages explain payment plans, medical credit cards and loans, they describe how these products work and quote lenders’ own published terms with dates. They do not recommend any product or lender, and they do not say whether you should borrow. Read the full agreement, including the promotion end date, the rate after it and whether interest is deferred, before you sign.
Tax
Notes on deductions, HSAs and FSAs are general and name the IRS publication or revenue procedure they come from, with its edition. Where a point is our reading of an IRS rule, the page says so. They are not tax advice. Ask a tax professional about your own situation and return.
Code numbers
Code numbers on this site are from the CDT Code, maintained by the American Dental Association; the descriptions beside them are our own. They help you match a line on a treatment plan or an explanation of benefits. They are not the ADA’s official descriptions, and the way a procedure is coded on your claim is for your dentist and your plan to settle. The ADA does not endorse this site.
Accuracy
Pages are checked against the sources they cite, but no check catches everything. Check important details with the original source before you rely on them. See also our terms of use.
How our content is made
Every page is fact-checked against its sources before it is published. Pages appear under The Tooth Bill name. Our editorial policy, how we check page and how we estimate costs explain the process.
Advertising and independence
The Tooth Bill is free to read and funded by display advertising. Advertisers have no say over what we publish, and an ad on a page, including an ad for a dentist, a dental chain, an insurer, a discount plan or a lender, is not an endorsement or a referral. We use no affiliate links, accept no paid placements, sell no leads, make no dentist referrals, sell no plans or loans, and rank no one. Names of dentists’ organizations, insurers, lenders, makers and other companies are used only to identify them as publishers or products, and we are not affiliated with them.
External links
We link to regulations, agencies, plan documents, price sources and other websites so you can check what we say. We do not control those sites and are not responsible for their content.
Questions and corrections
If you think something is wrong, email contact@thetoothbill.com with the page address and a source, and we will look at it. We can’t review a treatment plan, a quote, an explanation of benefits or a claim, or recommend a dentist, plan or lender. See also our corrections page.