Dr Timmerman is frequently asked, whether face to face or online, for the cost of dental implants.  It is not easy to give a static fee for everyone, so the answer is usually, “I don’t know…!”

It may seem coy to hear, “It depends,” all the time, but it truly does depend.  Some factors include”:

• How many teeth are being replaced?
• Where in the mouth will they be?
• Will they stabilize a denture or a crown?
• How long have the teeth been missing?
• Will extractions be done where the implants will be placed?

Fees will vary from city to city as well, so a fee quoted in Seattle likely won’t apply to someone in Manhattan or Des Moines, Iowa.

Some costs to include when figuring fees could include bone grafting (to make sure there is enough “cement holding the fence post in place”), extractions (and what kind?  surgical or simple?), implant abutment, implant body and implant crown.  Often there is a fee for a surgical guide (to make sure it doesn’t get placed in a sinus or cut a nerve), and a fee for a CT scan.

So, while you COULD call around and ask the cost for an implant in each office, true comparison shopping is difficult.  An answer of $1000 for an implant may be offset by a higher fee for other things, at what originally sounded like a great deal may in fact be no savings at all, and perhaps even cost more.

A sort of rule of thumb, the implant body could run $1500-2500, abutment $300-600, implant crown $1200-2300, bone graft $400-600, sinus lift $500-5000, surgical guide $400-800, CT scan $400-1200, extractions $200-800 each.

As you can see, the fee has a lot of variability.

So…  How much for dental implants?

“It depends.”