2026 Cost Guide

Average Cost of Wisdom Teeth Removal in the United States, 2026

The most useful published figure for 2026: CareCredit's cost guide puts all four wisdom teeth at $1,200 to $4,175 nationally, depending on impaction and anesthesia (50-state research conducted by ASQ360 for Synchrony, page checked June 2026). Aspen Dental publishes an average of $299 per tooth (range $184 to $488) from its 2026 internal data. There is no official national fee survey: the ADA discontinued its Survey of Dental Fees in 2023.

The Headline Number, Decomposed

A wisdom teeth quote has five sliding pieces. Read together they explain why two patients in the same city, with the same insurance, can pay very different totals for what looks like the same surgery. The five pieces are the per-tooth extraction fee, the anesthesia choice, the provider type, the geographic market, and the insurance interaction. Published cost guides capture the first piece; the other four are what turn a guide figure into a real-world quote.

The table below shows CareCredit's published single-tooth averages by extraction type, with local anesthetic only. These are the only current national per-extraction-type figures published with a stated research basis (ASQ360 50-state research, 2023 to 2024, for Synchrony's CareCredit; page checked June 2026).

Extraction Type	Average	Range
Simple extraction (tooth visible, no surgery)	$177	$137 to $335
Surgical extraction (sectioning or bone removal)	$363	$281 to $702
Soft tissue impaction	$423	$325 to $829
Full bony impaction	$532	$413 to $1,041
Complicated impaction	$835	$639 to $1,620
Sedation (oral, nitrous, or IV), per visit	$349	$273 to $675
General anesthesia, per visit	$639	$494 to $1,253

Per tooth (sedation and anesthesia per visit), local anesthetic only unless stated. Source: CareCredit wisdom teeth cost guide, based on ASQ360 50-state research for Synchrony, checked June 2026. Actual cost varies by geography, provider, and case.

Why There Is No Official Benchmark

For decades the ADA Survey of Dental Fees was the standard answer to "what should this cost". It no longer exists. The ADA Council on Dental Practice discontinued the survey in 2023 after a change in law removed the safe-harbor disclosure protection it relied on, and past editions were withdrawn from download. The last edition covered 2022 fees. The ADA Health Policy Institute still publishes dental market research, but no per-procedure fee tables, and the ADA is forbidden by federal law from setting or recommending fees. The full story, and what to use instead, is on the fee data sources page.

Three caveats matter when reading any published range. First, published figures describe private-practice fees: dental school clinics and federally qualified health centres typically charge less, and hospital-based oral surgery through the medical benefit is priced through an entirely different pathway. Second, what an insured patient actually pays is the insurer's contracted allowable, not the list fee, with the patient share calculated against the allowable. Third, no published range stratifies by case complexity within a procedure type: a difficult full bony impaction near the inferior alveolar nerve and a routine one can carry different fees at the same practice.

For budgeting, treat the published ranges as a planning baseline, then adjust for the sliding pieces: anesthesia, provider type, geography, and insurance. The impaction-type page documents the per-CDT-code breakdown, and the anaesthesia page documents the second sliding piece.

What Is Not in the Headline Number

A real oral surgery bill typically adds several items beyond the extraction and sedation fees, each billed separately and each worth asking about before the procedure:

Panoramic radiograph (CDT D0330): required to plan around inferior alveolar nerve proximity in lower bony impactions. Sometimes pre-existing imaging from a referring general dentist is accepted, sometimes not; ask before paying twice.
Cone-beam CT (CDT D0364 to D0368): indicated when conventional 2D imaging cannot rule out nerve involvement on a deeply impacted lower third molar. Not every case; ask whether the surgeon anticipates it and what it costs.
Surgical consultation (CDT D9310): standard at oral surgery referral. Sometimes waived if the procedure is booked the same day.
Post-op pharmacy: pain relief, chlorhexidine rinse, occasionally an antibiotic. Out of pocket on most plans below the drug deductible.
Complication management: dry socket (alveolar osteitis) is the most common post-extraction complication, more frequent on lower third molars, and treatment visits are billed separately. See the recovery cost page.

The practical consequence: an all-in budget should sit above the extraction-plus-sedation subtotal, and the only way to know by how much is an itemised treatment plan listing every CDT code the practice intends to bill.

From National to Local

No current source publishes reliable city-level oral surgery fee benchmarks. The closest practical tool is FAIR Health Consumer, a free ZIP-code estimator built on billions of insurance claims. Within-metro variation is real and often wider than between-region variation: practices in premium districts price above practices a few miles away with lower cost structures, for the same CDT codes.

The per-city pages cover the local access landscape: New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Miami, Boston, San Francisco, Atlanta. Each lists the dental schools in the metro that operate oral surgery clinics, the public hospital and FQHC pathways, the state Medicaid position, and the in-market insurance carrier mix.

Validating a Quote Without a National Survey

The reliable workflow is local and itemised. Read the CDT codes off the treatment plan. Ask whether the anesthesia recommendation is clinically required or elective. Get a second itemised quote for the same codes; two quotes for identical CDT codes are directly comparable in a way no national average can match. If insured, have the practice submit a pre-treatment estimate so the insurer returns its contracted allowable and your projected share in writing before you commit.

For a quote that feels high, the how-to-save page documents dental school routes, FQHC pathways, dental savings plans, and the medical-pathway insurance option. Dental school clinics routinely deliver the same surgical case for substantially less than private practice, with the trade-off of longer chair time and a wait list.

2026 Cost FAQ

What is the average cost of wisdom teeth removal in 2026?

CareCredit's published cost guide, based on 50-state research, puts all four wisdom teeth at $1,200 to $4,175 depending on impaction complexity and anesthesia. Aspen Dental, one of the few national chains that publishes prices, reports an average of $299 per tooth with a range of $184 to $488 from its 2026 internal data. Your own quote depends on impaction type, anesthesia choice, provider type, and location.

Is there an official national fee survey for dental procedures?

No. The ADA Survey of Dental Fees, formerly the standard benchmark, was discontinued in 2023 and its last edition covered 2022 fees. The ADA is forbidden by federal law from setting or recommending fees. No national per-procedure dental fee survey currently exists.

Why do cost ranges look so wide?

Three drivers: impaction complexity dominates (a full bony impaction costs several times a simple erupted extraction), anesthesia is a large separately billed line item, and provider type shifts the fee for the same case between general dentist and oral surgeon. Geography compounds all three.

Where can I see published cost data myself?

CareCredit publishes a wisdom teeth cost guide with per-extraction-type averages. Aspen Dental publishes its average per-tooth pricing. FAIR Health Consumer at fairhealthconsumer.org gives free ZIP-code estimates built on insurance claims data. Your insurer can return a binding pre-treatment estimate for a specific treatment plan.

Does the published average include insurance?

No. Published ranges are gross fees before insurance. What an insured patient pays depends on the plan's coverage percentage and annual maximum, applied to the insurer's contracted allowable rather than the list fee. A pre-treatment estimate from your insurer is the only way to know your share in advance.

Are prices the same in every state?

No. Fees vary with local operating costs and market position, and within-metro variation is often wider than between-state variation. FAIR Health Consumer's ZIP-code estimator is the practical tool for localising a figure, and itemised local quotes are the only binding numbers.

What is in a real quote that is not in the headline number?

A real quote typically adds a consultation, a panoramic X-ray (sometimes a cone-beam CT for deeply impacted lower teeth), the anesthesia fee, prescription medication, and any complication management such as dry socket treatment. Ask for an itemised treatment plan with CDT codes so every line is visible before you commit.

Sources for this page (checked June 2026): CareCredit wisdom teeth cost guide (ASQ360 50-state research for Synchrony); Aspen Dental published wisdom teeth pricing; FAIR Health Consumer dental cost estimator; ADA Health Policy Institute.

Not medical or insurance advice. Get a written treatment plan with CDT codes from a licensed clinician before any treatment decision.