Methodology

How the fee ranges are collected, what the calculators do with them, and where the limits are.

What the calculators are

Every patient calculator is a transparent piece of arithmetic on top of a published fee range. You can see the formula under “How this is calculated” on each page, change any input, and the result updates. Nothing is hidden, weighted or personalised. The dentist calculators are the same idea applied to practice numbers: overhead, utilisation, no-shows, lifetime value and so on.

Where the fee ranges come from

Ranges are built from fees that private practices publish on their own websites, from dental association fee guides where they exist (for example the provincial fee guides in Canada), and from reputable cost guides that quote clinic fees. The original benchmark sheet was researched to 7 Sept 2026. Every figure corrected after that date carries its own researchedTo date and two or three source URLs, which you can see in the open dataset and its CSV download.

• Low and high are recommended bounds for a typical private practice, not the cheapest promotion or the most expensive specialist we could find.
• Midpoint is the calculator’s default input. It is a sensible middle figure, usually the median of the fees we saw, and always sits strictly inside the range.
• Units matter. An implant is fixture, abutment and crown; All-on-4 is per arch; a bridge is per unit; a deep clean is per quadrant; wisdom tooth removal is per tooth. The unit is stated next to each range.

Confidence grades

• High — many published fees agree and the range is stable across regions.
• Good — several sources agree; regional spread is wider or one endpoint is less certain.
• Limited — few published fees were found; treat the range as indicative and get a written quote.

Currency and countries

Figures are in local currency: Australian, New Zealand, US and Canadian dollars and pounds sterling. We do not convert between currencies, so a UK range is what UK patients pay, not a translation of an Australian one. The five countries were chosen because they share a broadly similar private-practice model and publish enough fees to benchmark.

What the estimates leave out

A calculator cannot see your mouth. Bone grafts, sinus lifts, sedation, retreatment, lab upgrades and specialist referrals all move a real quote. Insurance rebates depend on your policy’s limits, waiting periods and whether the practice is a preferred provider. The insurance section on each page explains the rules for each country, but only your insurer can confirm what you will get back.

Refresh cadence and corrections

Ranges are reviewed at least every six months. A build-time check refuses to publish a range whose midpoint sits outside it, whose low end equals its high end, or whose low end is under half the high end without a recorded reason. Every change is listed in the data changelog in the repository, and the date shown as “Ranges researched to” on each calculator is the date for that country’s figure, not the site as a whole.

Dentist benchmarks

Benchmarks quoted on the dentist tools (for example an overhead percentage of 55 to 65% or a no-show rate of 5 to 10%) are indicative ranges for general practice across the five markets, drawn from practice-management literature and consultancy surveys. They are starting points for a conversation with your accountant, not targets.

Independence

The Dental Bible does not sell treatment, take referral fees or rank practices. No clinic or brand influences a range. If you spot a figure that looks wrong, the sources for it are public, and we would rather correct it than defend it.

Estimates only. This site does not provide medical, dental or financial advice. Read the about page for who we are and the dataset for the numbers.