Dental care in Quebec is for the majority private. Therefore, if you do not have dental insurance from your employer, you will have to pay for your treatment out of pocket. Dental visits can seem expensive and therefore patients avoid seeing a dentist regularly until pain develops and often the cost of treatment is higher.
Dental fees are updated annually by the Quebec Association of Dental Surgeons (ACDQ). This fee guide helps to determine a fair and reasonable price for both the patients and dentists. These ACDQ guidelines are only suggestions allowing dentists to set their own fees. Therefore, you will find that dentists’ fees may vary from one dental office to the next. When looking an affordable and fair dentist, we recommend as a patient to always ask if your dentist follows the ACDQ fee guide as a reference. Patients often call us to inquire on the price of a dental exam, dental cleaning or even a dental filling. It important to know that for each treatment the fees vary depending on several factors as described below.
How much does a dental exam cost? For new patients, a complete exam includes an extra oral and intra oral exam with regular x-rays is $170. Separately, every five years we recommend a panoramic x-ray which is $95. Therefore, a new patient complete exam is on average $265. For routine exams every 6 months called recall exams that include oral x-rays the fee is $101.
How much does a dental cleaning cost? The fee for a cleaning is determined by the number of units of scaling. Each unit is 10minutes. Therefore, the more tartar build up you have, the longer the cleaning, the higher the cost. The fees range from one to four units of scaling, or $68 to $213 respectively. The polishing is a fixed price of $75.
How much does a dental filling cost? The fees for fillings have a wide range since there are several factors to consider: the type of material (amalgam or composite filling), the type of tooth (front tooth, bicuspid or molar), and the size of the cavity (one to five surfaces.) A composite filling costs about 45 percent more than an amalgam filling. The range for a single white composite filling is from $157 to $451.
How much does a root canal cost? The cost of the treatment will depend on the number of canals found in the roots. Teeth can have anywhere between one canal to four canals and the fees vary from $645 to $1,365.
How much is a tooth extraction? The price depends on the nature of the tooth. The more complexe the extraction, the higher the fee. A simple extraction is a $152, while a wisdom tooth can be as high as $377.
How much is a teeth whitening? This treatment can take place at a dental office or at home and will require an average of 2 or 3 one-hour sessions. You can expect to pay between $690 per session.
Seeing a dentist every 6 months allows to detect problems early on avoiding extensive treatment and minimizing the cost of dental care. By having routine check ups every 6months, there will be less tartar removal, will detect caries early on and minimizing the financial cost of treatment. Call your dentist today to book an appointment.