Teeth Cleaning Price Check

[LittleShadow]

Good news is Molly's checkup today went smoothly! Bad news is, the vet recommended I schedule a teeth cleaning. I had a bit of sticker shock when they said it would be in the range of $600 though!

They said it was for basic cleaning and tartar/plaque removal, not because of any obvious cavities/bad teeth, but if they end up finding problems, it will be an additional $130 per bad tooth. Molly does not have any apparent trouble eating or other obvious signs of dental issues. She is just shy of 12 years old. I'm in a smallish town in California's central valley area. Is this a reasonable price, or should I be looking elsewhere?

 

[kittyluv387]

Get different quotes. Places will charge very different prices. Some tips on savings:

- You can skip x-rays if this is part of your cat's regular upkeep. Of course if this is her first dental in forever it's a different story. Preventive is best! Oh wait I remember your story! This will be Molly's first dental of course. So keep this in mind for future reference.

- If Molly seems to be feeling well and already had a bloodtest I think it's ok to skip the pre-anesthesia bloodtest. If people disagree I understand. One of my cats who has had a dental 3 times has never had a bloodtest done. Of course this because he never needed one from illness.

To me, I would risk the above shortcuts for savings if it made a difference between getting a dental or not. But definitely shop around! It can make a big difference.

Edit: I just realized she's 12. I do recommend bloodwork in that case if she hasn't had one in the past year. My cats are only aged 4-6.

 

[daftcat75]

At that age, you should be proactive about her dental health. Cats can and will eat through pain. Until they won’t. It can get a lot more expensive than $600 when that happens.

That price sounds reasonable. I don’t have my bill in front of me. I believe the gas (anesthetic) was $130, the xrays were $130, the fee to walk in the door was $60-70 and the dental examination itself was $200. So yeah. It adds up. But it’s worth it if you can catch problems before they become complications.

 

[kittyluv387]

Oh right you want a price check. I live in Dallas where prices for services are generally high because not as much competition.

$220 For basic dental
$99 X-rays
$120 Bloodtest

So around $400ish. I have called around and heard higher prices. The cheapest was a TNR rescue clinic but they don't offer bloodtest or x rays.

 

[lalagimp]

Your estimate might be broken down to include 2 extractions, if needed, and otherwise you wouldn't hit the $600 ceiling.
I get two quotes for Amalie - one with extractions and pain relief, and then one without.
A dental without extractions or xrays is usually $300-400. I did basics for Yue and Tommy at a practice that had a groupon for $199 per cat. Did a short exam, ran blood, did the cleanings.
You really want an itemized estimate, not a total package. Amalie's also show that we're being charged for nerve blocks, which is fine with me, what pain medicine, how much time we're being charged for anesthesia, how many views on xrays, per tooth, and then if we go over the per tooth minimum on the estimate what the next rate will be for more teeth or additional anesthesia, etc.

 

[Adelei]

My 9 year old just had it done. It was $190 for the base price, then extra money if I wanted pre-dental bloodwork done (I did), extra to have an I.V. going into her arm just in case they needed to act quickly while she was under (I paid for that too.) Then it turned out they needed to remove a canine tooth and she had an antibiotic shot and 4 or 5 days of pain meds. They also gave her her yearly vaccines too (not the rabies one though). All together, it cost me $456.08 for everything. This was in NC, about an hour north of Charlotte.

Reading everyone else's prices, it seems I was lucky on the price, even though at the time I was pretty blown away by how expensive it was!

 

[LuxBear]

This was from Moo’s dental in January. Bloodwork, one X-ray, anesthesia, cleaning and whatever comes with the cleaning.