As much as 44 percent people postponed visiting the dentist due to lack of money, 57 percent were surprised by the amount of the bill, and 20 percent removed the tooth instead of treating it because it was cheaper – according to the latest report “Employee's Smile 2025” by Medicover Stomatologia. We checked how much dental treatment currently costs, what influences it and how prices have changed recently.
Dental treatment is an integral part of health care, but for many people its costs can constitute a serious financial burden. Prices for dental services in Poland vary depending on the type of procedure, materials used and the location of the office.
Treatment costs are a real barrier
As representatives of Medicover Stomatologia told Bankier.pl, the costs of dental treatment are a real barrier for many patients. The company's report “Employee's Smile 2025” shows that:
- 44 percent employees postponed their visit due to lack of money,
- 57 percent were surprised by the amount of the bill,
- 20 percent extracted the tooth instead of treating it because it was cheaper,
- 9 percent financed treatment with a loan or installments.
How much does dental treatment cost?
Currently, in private dental offices, the average costs of the most frequently performed procedures are as follows:
- inspection/consultation with a dentist: ok. PLN 50-200
- consultation + treatment plan: ok. PLN 100-300
- filling the cavity (filling): PLN 200-500
- tooth extraction: usually PLN 300-600
- root canal treatment:
• single-channel tooth: PLN 800-1,500
• multi-channel: prices proportionately higher - hygiene treatments (e.g. scaling, sandblasting): often PLN 300-600.
Expensive treatment is postponed
For more advanced procedures such as implants, crowns or prosthetics, costs may reach several or even several thousandties zlotysdepending on the complexity and quality of the materials. Many people also require orthodontic treatment. The costs here can be even higher than typical dental treatment. Depending on the type of device, the complexity of the case and the duration of therapy, the total cost is usually in the range of PLN 7,000. – 20 thousand PLN, and in more complicated cases it may be even higher.
According to Medicover Stomatologia data the high costs of dental treatment mean that patients often postpone it until later – especially larger prosthetic or implantological investments.
This is confirmed by Karolina Drabent, manager of the OrtoDent orthodontic and dental clinic in Wrocław.
– Unfortunately We observe both postponement of treatment for financial reasons and an increase in the number of more advanced cases requiring comprehensive therapy which also involves higher costs and longer treatment – says Karolina Drabent to Bankier.pl. – At the same time, awareness of prevention is growing. More and more people regularly use hygiene, including: scaling, sandblasting, which is a positive trend.
It is cheaper in smaller towns
According to the doctor. dentist Paweł Barucha, vice-president of the Supreme Medical Council, There are differences between small towns and large centers when it comes to the prices of dental services.
– It's always been like that. However, they are not very large, because dental equipment and materials cost the same for all doctors. Differences may result from labor costs or rent amounts. The work itself constitutes only a few percent, says Paweł Barucha to Bankier.pl.
It is also the norm difference between the prices of treatments in chain clinics and in small private practices. The former usually have higher rates for basic treatments, but are often cheaper for more complex treatments.
It's expensive and getting more expensive…
According to Medicover Stomatologia data, over the last 2-3 years, prices of dental services have increased by an average of 8-12%. annually. Prices increased the most:
- dental surgery,
- implantology,
- microscopic endodontics,
- advanced prosthetics.
According to Karolina Drabent, the largest increases concerned procedures requiring advanced materials and technologies, primarily root canal treatment under a microscope and implantology.
– The costs of prosthetic treatments have also increased significantly, which is related to, among others, with higher labor costs of dental technicians – says the manager of the Wrocław clinic. – In the case of conservative treatment, such as composite fillings, the price increase was noticeable, but slightly smaller and resulted mainly from the rising costs of materials and general business costs.
Given the high prices, patients try to cope by, among others: using installment payments.
– We notice growing interest in flexible forms of financing treatment. We cooperate with the MediRaty system, which allows patients to divide the costs of therapy into convenient installments. Thanks to this, many people can start treatment without having to postpone it, says Karolina Drabent.
Inflation brought high prices
According to the NRL representative, Recently, the prices of dental services have changed in proportion to the prices of other products and services.
– It all started about four years ago, when real inflation was over 20%. That's when the problems really started. The prices of dental materials, which were already expensive at the beginning, increased horrendously after the pandemic and never dropped to the level before that period – says Paweł Barucha. – Energy costs for entrepreneurs also have a huge impact on the prices of dental treatment, and dentists running offices are one of them. Electricity prices have increased by 100% over the last two years, and rent increases by 30-40% annually. In addition, there are loan costswhere during high inflation everything collapsed, to put it mildly.
The rates are verified by healthy competition
According to the NRL expert in dentistry the purchase of any equipment costs approximately PLN 100,000. PLN, and office equipment for the start of business costs from PLN 300,000. up to 500 thousand zlotys.
– Many patients may think that simply installing a filling is nothing and should be cheap because it does not involve high costs. Meanwhile Currently, just the fact that a patient enters the office, sits in the chair and just consults can cost us PLN 100because all equipment must be sterilized, and disposable items must be thrown away and paid to the employee – explains the doctor.
Therefore, according to the expert, There is no way dental services can cost less.
– Although their service prices have been rising quite rapidly for some time, they cannot be raised indefinitely. This is verified by the market it is currently on 44 thousand dentistswhich not only fully meets the needs of patients, but also creates healthy competition – says Paweł Barucha.
A representative of OrtoDent thinks similarly.
– Taking into account the persistent costs of materials, energy and labor, further, although probably moderate, price increases should be expected in 2026
– adds Karolina Drabent.
Why is it difficult to get dental treatment on the National Health Fund?
Meanwhile, in theory, everyone should be able to have their teeth treated under the National Health Fund. However, in practice this can be a big challenge. The number of offices with a contract with the National Health Fund is limited, and appointment times often last several weeks or even months. It turns out that dentists are reluctant to cooperate with the fund and it is not due to their bad will.
– In the National Health Fund care system, only dental surgery and removal of dental deposits are actually correctly priced. The rest, among others, conservative dentistry, pediatric dentistry and orthodontics have nothing to do with the market – explains the NRL expert. – We have been demanding a new valuation for four years and nothing is happening. If the filling still costs PLN 60, no one will do it. Moreover, the requirements are enormous and there is a lot of paperwork involved. That is why doctors escape from such contracts, and patients, especially those suffering, seek help in private offices. Another thing is that not everything can be done on the National Health Fund. People who require a complicated procedure also have no chance to do it with public money. This is why it is worth paying attention to prevention, because the costs of dental treatment are directly proportional to years of neglect
– adds the expert.
