We researched dental charges from 258 dentists in the UK. Here are the results.

Dentist prices in the UK can be confusing.

Many dental clinics don’t even have their own website, and those that do often don’t display any dental fees online. Even then, very few actually give a comprehensive pricing schedule so you can get a real idea of which treatment options you can afford.

To shed some light on UK dental charges in 2021, we analysed fees from 258 dental clinics in 21 cities across the country.

Here’s what we discovered.

Key findings

Here are some of the most interesting statistics we uncovered while researching dental costs in the UK:

• London has the most expensive dental prices, but only just. Bristol and Plymouth are not far behind.
• Liverpool and Belfast have some of the most affordable dentistry in the UK.
• It’s worth shopping around if you live in Edinburgh, London, Newcastle, Hull or Plymouth. These cities have the largest variation in pricing.
• We found clinics offering single dental implants for under £2,000 everywhere except Bristol, Manchester and Plymouth.
• Dentists in Wales and Northern Ireland have significantly lower prices, on average, than the rest of the UK.

We also found that it can be really hard to compare dentist fees like-for-like. There are so many variables for each type of treatment, and websites often display a blanket ‘from’ price.

Although this is understandable from a dentist’s point of view – they really need to examine your teeth and discuss your options before they can give a fixed cost – it makes it difficult to know what you can actually get for the price displayed.

Keep reading for more information about what to look out for when doing your own dental cost research.

Compare dental prices in 21 UK cities

We looked at private dental charges for four specific services:

• Dental checkups
• Ceramic crowns (not metal)
• In-office teeth whitening (not take-home kits)
• Single dental implants

Explore the map below to view the average prices in cities near you:

The same data is presented in the table below. For easier comparison, the three highest prices for each treatment are highlighted in orange, and the three lowest in green.

Average UK dental charges

Next, let's look at how the average cost of certain dental treatments varies across the UK.

Average cost of a dental checkup in the UK

We found that a dental checkup costs £63, on average. The cheapest appointment we found was for £20 at a dentist in Birmingham, while the most expensive was £180 in Cardiff. Both of these include x-rays, an examination, and a treatment plan.

Sheffield has the lowest average prices for dental checkups, at £48, while the average in Plymouth is almost double, at £89.

Around half of dentists include x-rays in their checkup fee for new patients.

Note that plenty of dentists offer free consultations to new patients, or will refund the fee if you go ahead with treatment. They might also have discounts for patients with a particular dental plan. We haven’t included those offers in our data.

Average cost of a dental crown in the UK

There are several types of dental crown, but for this research we focused on all-ceramic (metal-free) options.

The cheapest ceramic dental crowns we found were in clinics in Birmingham and Edinburgh, both costing £350. Edinburgh also had the most expensive, costing £1,100.

Looking at average costs across cities, Belfast came in lowest at £478. Swansea and Cardiff were second and third at £494 and £501, respectively.

The highest average dental crown cost is in London, at £738, with Reading second-highest at £730. Overall, the average price for a metal-free dental crown in the UK is £589.

If this sounds high, the good news is that other types of dental crown, like porcelain-fused-to-metal, are a little cheaper. 

Average cost of a dental implant in the UK

We found that the average cost for a single dental implant in the UK was £2,339. That’s a lot of money to replace a single tooth, so it’s a good thing they last a long time.

Liverpool has the cheapest average dental implant cost, at £1,850. This is also where we found the cheapest individual clinic price, at just £1,400.

At the other end of the scale, a dental implant in Bristol costs £2,607 on average. And the highest individual price was £3,600 at a clinic in London. Fortunately, we also found a clinic offering dental implants in London for less than half this price (£1,700).

The only cities where we didn’t find implants below £2,000 were Plymouth, Manchester and Bristol.

When comparing dental implant prices in the UK, it’s important to include all the elements needed. Some dental clinics advertise a single price for the complete procedure, whereas others price the implant rod, abutment and crown separately. 

You may also need to pay for a temporary crown and surgery such as a sinus lift or bone graft. These all come at an extra cost.

Read more: Ways to Save Money on Dental Implants 

Average cost of teeth whitening at a dentist in the UK

There are many teeth whitening options available in the UK, from toothpastes to home whitening kits to strips and pens. But, the premium option for those wanting immediate results is a professional whitening session at the dentist.

Most dentists offer some kind of take-home whitening kit with custom mouth trays, but fewer have an in-office whitening facility. The best results often come from combining the two methods. But for this research, we just looked at whitening treatments performed in the dental chair.

So, how much does it cost to have your teeth whitened at the dentist?

We found that the average cost of in-office whitening treatments is £477.

London has the highest average teeth whitening price at £578, with Glasgow and Sheffield coming in joint-second at £553. The highest individual price was also in London, at £835 for a single session.

For more affordable teeth whitening, head to Belfast where the average price is £375 and the lowest is £285. Or, visit Nottingham, Norwich or Liverpool, which all have clinics offering in-surgery whitening for under £300.

Most affordable dental treatment in the UK

So, which cities have the cheapest dentistry in the UK?

Liverpool had the best prices in our research, with Belfast a close second. Cardiff, Swansea and Leicester complete the bottom five.

But whichever city you live in, you’ll be able to find different treatment options and prices by contacting a few clinics. Most offer payment plans and other dental finance options to help you access the treatment you need, when you need it.

And there’s also the option of NHS dental care for essential work at a subsidised price.

Most expensive cities for UK dental treatment

It’s not really surprising that London topped our list, having the most expensive dental care in the UK overall. Perhaps more surprising is that prices in Bristol and Plymouth are not that much lower. However, there is more of a reduction in price to reach Reading and Norwich, in positions 4 and 5 on our list.

The map below shows how average dental costs in the UK vary from one city to another, based on all the treatment prices we researched for this report.

Other interesting findings

Implant terminology is confusing

Dental implant charges are some of the hardest to understand. This is partly because placing an implant requires several steps and individual components, and partly because dentists don’t all use consistent terminology in their price lists. There are also different brands of implant available at different prices.

Take a look at the following examples which we came across while researching dental implant fees in the UK:

• Implant placement
• Implant restoration
• Single restored implant
• Implant, abutment & crown
• Implant, fully restored
• Implant + crown
• Implant + temporary crown
• Implant per unit

It’s no wonder there are those who just say “Estimate provided following consultation”.

‘From’ prices can be misleading

When a clinic displays a single ‘from’ price for something, it usually means there are several treatment options available.

For example, a dentist may offer dental crowns ‘From £299’, but after enquiring we find that a ceramic crown costs £599. Or teeth whitening costs ‘From £195’, but that’s for a take-home bleaching kit.

So, when comparing your dentist’s prices with those mentioned in this report, be sure that you’re looking at the same service.

Usually a quick phone call or email will reveal more detail, but some dental practices prefer you to visit for a consultation. This enables the dentist to carry out an assessment and advise you of your treatment options, looking at all the pros and cons of each – not just the price.

City size seems irrelevant

Is there a correlation between a city’s population and the average cost of dental treatments there? Not really. Although London topped the price charts, the UK’s next most populous city, Birmingham, was 6th cheapest.

Meanwhile, much smaller cities like Reading and Norwich were among the 25% most expensive.

It’s worth shopping around

You'll notice from the map above that cities which are geographically close can have large price disparity.

For example, Liverpool and Manchester are just 31 miles apart, but dental care in Manchester is on average 25% more expensive than in Liverpool.

So, if you're serious about finding the best price for your dental treatment, it could be worth travelling a little further afield.

Notes for journalists

This research was conducted between May 2021 and August 2021 and published in October 2021.

Data from 258 dental clinics in 21 cities in the UK is included; a minimum of 10 clinics per city. Prices were sourced through a combination of emails, phone calls and viewing clinics’ websites. Not every clinic was able to provide a price for all four of the treatments researched.

Where only a ‘from’ price was stated, this was the price collected for the research. All averages stated are the mean.

About Dentaly.org

Dentaly.org was founded in 2014 in response to the lack of comprehensive oral health information available online. Seven years later, we have published thousands of pages of information in five different languages.

We cover a wide range of patient questions so that our readers can better understand their dental options and make an informed choice.

Dentaly.org was the Dental Industry Awards 2020 Winner for Website or App of the Year.

Full dental cost data by city

Below is a more detailed list of the data gathered by city.

Average dental prices in Belfast

Average dental prices in Birmingham

Average dental prices in Brighton

Average dental prices in Bristol

Average dental prices in Cardiff

Average dental prices in Edinburgh

Average dental prices in Glasgow

Average dental prices in Hull

Average dental prices in Leeds

Average dental prices in Leicester

Average dental prices in Liverpool

Average dental prices in London

Average dental prices in Manchester

Average dental prices in Newcastle

Average dental prices in Norwich

Average dental prices in Nottingham

Average dental prices in Plymouth

Average dental prices in Reading

Average dental prices in Sheffield

Average dental prices in Southampton

Average dental prices in Swansea