A simple tooth extraction typically costs $70 to $250 per tooth without insurance. Surgical extractions, impacted teeth, and wisdom teeth cost significantly more, and add-ons like sedation or bone grafting can push the total well beyond the base price. Here’s what determines where your bill will land.
Simple Extraction Costs
A simple extraction is the most straightforward and affordable type. It’s used when the tooth is fully visible above the gumline and can be removed without cutting into bone or tissue. You’ll get a local anesthetic injection, and the dentist loosens the tooth with a hand instrument before pulling it out. The average cost ranges from $70 to $250 per tooth.
Where you fall in that range depends on your location, the specific tooth, and whether you’re seeing a general dentist or an oral surgeon. Oral surgeons typically charge more. For reference, one major insurer’s 2024 fee schedule lists a general dentist’s fee for a standard erupted tooth extraction at $90, while a specialist charges $105 for the same procedure.
Surgical Extraction Costs
When a tooth is broken at the gumline, hasn’t fully erupted, or requires the dentist to cut into bone or section the tooth into pieces, it becomes a surgical extraction. These are more complex and more expensive, with an average cost of $363 and a typical range of $281 to $702 based on a 2024 national cost study.
If the tooth is impacted (stuck beneath the gum or bone), costs climb further depending on how deeply embedded it is:
- Soft tissue impaction (tooth trapped under the gum but not in bone): $325 to $829, averaging $423
- Partial bony impaction (tooth partially encased in jawbone): $413 to $1,041, averaging $532
- Full bony impaction with complications (tooth completely encased in bone, near a nerve or sinus): $639 to $1,620, averaging $835
These figures are per tooth and don’t include any insurance reductions.
Wisdom Tooth Costs
Wisdom teeth follow the same pricing logic, but since they’re frequently impacted, they tend to be among the most expensive extractions. A fully erupted wisdom tooth with simple roots costs $75 to $200 to remove with local anesthesia. An impacted wisdom tooth runs $225 to $600 per tooth, again with local anesthesia only.
Most people have four wisdom teeth, so if all four need to come out and they’re impacted, the extraction fees alone could total $900 to $2,400 before sedation costs. Many oral surgeons recommend removing all four at once to avoid multiple recovery periods, which can also reduce the combined cost compared to separate visits.
Sedation Adds to the Bill
Every extraction includes local anesthesia (the numbing injection), which is usually bundled into the extraction fee. But if you want additional sedation for comfort or anxiety, that’s a separate charge.
- Nitrous oxide (laughing gas): $75 to $150. You stay awake but relaxed, and the effects wear off within minutes.
- Oral sedation: $150 to $400. You take a pill before the procedure and feel drowsy, though you’re still technically conscious.
- IV sedation: $800 to $1,600. You’re in a deep twilight state and likely won’t remember the procedure. This is common for multiple wisdom teeth or complicated surgical extractions.
General anesthesia, where you’re fully unconscious, is less common for routine extractions and is typically administered in a hospital or surgical center. Costs vary widely and may involve separate facility and anesthesiologist fees.
Bone Grafting After Extraction
If you’re planning to replace the tooth with an implant later, your dentist may recommend a bone graft at the time of extraction. This is called socket preservation: material is packed into the empty socket to prevent the jawbone from shrinking while you heal. Without it, the bone can deteriorate within weeks, potentially making a future implant more difficult or impossible.
Socket preservation grafts typically cost $549 to $1,575 per site, depending on the graft material used. Synthetic materials and donor bone grafts fall on the lower end. Grafts using bone harvested from elsewhere in your own body are significantly more expensive, ranging from $2,161 to $5,148, though these are less common for simple socket preservation. This cost is entirely separate from the extraction fee itself, so a single extraction plus bone graft can easily total $1,000 or more.
What Insurance Typically Covers
Most dental insurance plans classify simple extractions as a basic procedure and cover 70% to 80% of the cost after your deductible. Surgical extractions and impacted teeth are sometimes classified as major procedures, which many plans cover at 50%. The specifics vary widely between plans, so checking your benefits summary before scheduling is worth the five minutes it takes.
If the extraction is medically necessary due to infection, trauma, or impaction, your medical insurance (not just dental) may also provide coverage, particularly for surgical procedures performed by an oral surgeon. This is worth investigating if you don’t have dental coverage or if your dental plan’s annual maximum is low.
Ways to Reduce the Cost
Dental schools are one of the most reliable options for affordable extractions. Student dentists perform procedures under close faculty supervision, and many schools discount fees significantly. The University of Colorado’s dental school, for example, offers discounts of up to 45% to 55% off standard fees depending on the clinic. Most states have at least one dental school, and wait times are typically longer than a private practice, but the savings are substantial.
Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) offer dental care on a sliding fee scale based on income. Community health centers and free dental clinics are other options, though availability varies by area. Dental discount plans, which aren’t insurance but membership programs that provide reduced rates at participating dentists, can also bring costs down by 15% to 50% depending on the plan and procedure.
If you’re paying out of pocket at a private practice, ask about cash-pay discounts. Many offices offer reduced rates for patients who pay in full at the time of service, since they avoid the administrative cost of filing insurance claims. Some practices also offer in-house payment plans or work with third-party financing programs that let you spread the cost over several months.