*Health issues>>>Dental Health issues

Why do crowns for teeth cost so much?

Issue
They are just little pieces of porcelin.

Best Tip

I am glad to answer that for you. They are not just little pieces of porcelain first off. And no they have not proven the metal crowns to be unsafe like the first person said. Depending on the lab that the dentist uses is what the cost of the crown will be. Also what type of material he has the lab use. Non-precious metal crowns are known not to last near as long as high nobel metal (a gold mixture). So many dentists are choosing that type, simply because their name is going on that work and they don't want their name on something that is going to fail in about 7 years. Making a crown start to finish is not cheap.

When you pay for a crown you are paying for every singe item they use on you. Guaze, cotton rolls, anesthetic, needle, sterilization of the insturments, barriers for the room, water, electricity, the burs that are used to prepare the tooth, impression material, impression tray, hemostatic solution and cord, temporary crown material, cement, lab fees, assistant salary (I make $15.00 and hour, some assistants make as much as $22.00 and hour) the paper your insurance claim or bill was printed on, the front desks salary, blah blah blah. Need I go on, cause trust me there is a lot more on the list.

I say a lab bill the other day on a crown. We asked for a high nobel crown with a porcelain outer cover. With the cost of the weight of the gold, the porcelain, shipping, tax, etc., the bill for that one crown was $318.00. We charged the patient $825.00 for that. So take the lab fee out of that and you have $507.00 left over, which will have all the above things listed deducted before the dentist pockets a dime.

So now do you see why those "Little pieces of porcelain" cost so much.

Trust me, I know how expensive dental materials. I buy them everyday. They are outragous. Not like going to WalMart. Source(s): Dental assistant for 10 yrs.

Others
The composite resin crowns are not covered by dental insurance, which is quite unfair, and very costly. However, the metal ones have been proven to be unsafe.
They are hand crafted. They take a while to do. I know someone who does this for a living.
So the dentist can afford his expensive car, house, take a world cruise you know...rob us blind!
Go to Mexico and get the work done for a tenth of the price (don't worry - they're trained in the U.S.)
it takes a long time to become a dentist. they charge alot because they can. if a mechanic had to go to 8 years of school, a tune up would probably cost a couple grand...