Deep cleaning cost: scaling and root planing, quadrant by quadrant
Choose your state and your plan: the estimator prices a full-mouth deep cleaning, four quadrants, and what is left for you to pay.
You pay for deep cleaning (scaling and root planing) in New York
$220
$389 billed, $170 paid by the plan.
| Estimated dentist charge (full fee) | $790 |
| Estimated in-network price | $389 |
| Plan pays (50 % after deductible) | $170 |
| Deductible | $50 |
| New York Medicaid fee, same codes (2024) | $182 |
Estimate: New York Medicaid fee ÷ 26.1 % (Medicaid pay as a share of dentists' charges, ADA HPI 2024). Brought to September 2026 with the dental services price index (BLS). Not a quote.
| CDT code | Service | Count | Medicaid fee, 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| D4341 | Scaling and root planing, four or more teeth per quadrant | 4 | $45.45 |
Compiled by Radif Partners · How prices are estimated · state Medicaid fee schedules, ADA ratios of 2024, BLS dental price index · not a quote
A deep cleaning is billed as scaling and root planing, code D4341 when four or more teeth of a quadrant are treated, and the mouth has four quadrants. A full-mouth treatment is estimated at a median $1,492 in September 2026 dollars before insurance, about $373 a quadrant, from $790 in New York to $2,831 in Colorado, across the 22 states whose Medicaid fee schedules list the code. The network price of a private plan is lower, about $861 for the four. This is not the routine cleaning of a checkup, which uses a different code and costs much less; plans treat the two very differently. The Covered California 2026 example plan places periodontics other than maintenance among major services, paid at 50 % after the deductible, so the patient pays about $455 of the network price, and nothing is paid during a waiting period for major work.
How a deep cleaning is coded
Scaling and root planing removes deposits below the gum line and smooths the root surfaces. Dentists bill it by quadrant: D4341 when four or more teeth in the quadrant are treated, D4342 when one to three are. Many patients need it in all four quadrants, often over two visits, and that is the case the estimator prices: four times D4341. When fewer teeth need it, the office bills D4342 for those quadrants, which usually costs less; the site does not estimate that code separately.
Other lines can appear on the same bill. A full-mouth debridement (D4355) is sometimes done first when deposits are too heavy for an exam; periodontal maintenance (D4910) is the cleaning that follows a deep cleaning in later visits; local anesthetic and medicine placed in pockets have their own codes. None of these is in the estimate.
| Code | What it is | In the estimate |
|---|---|---|
| D4341 | Scaling and root planing, four or more teeth per quadrant | Yes, four times |
| D4342 | Scaling and root planing, one to three teeth per quadrant | No |
| D4355 | Full-mouth debridement | No |
| D4910 | Periodontal maintenance | No |
Deep cleaning against a routine cleaning
A regular cleaning, D1110 for adults, is preventive care. Priced with an exam and bitewing X-rays, a checkup visit has a median estimate of $328, and most plans pay it in full in network. A deep cleaning is treatment of gum disease, and plans pay it at the rate of its class: the difference on the bill is large, as the teeth cleaning page shows. Whether a mouth needs scaling and root planing is decided by a dentist from pocket depths and X-rays; this site prices the procedure and takes no position on the diagnosis.
Four quadrants of scaling and root planing, state by state
Deep cleaning (scaling and root planing): median of 22 states, full fee
$1,492
| Highest: Colorado | $2,831 |
| Median | $1,492 |
| Lowest: New York | $790 |
How the price is estimated
The site reads what each state's Medicaid program paid for D4341 on July 1, 2024, the date up to which the ADA Health Policy Institute collected Medicaid fees for its 2024 ratios. It divides that fee by the state's ratio between Medicaid pay and dentists' charges, multiplies by four quadrants and carries the result to September 2026 with the federal price index for dental services. A state whose schedule has no fee for D4341 is not priced. The method page lists every schedule and its edition.
What a plan pays
Plans do not agree on the class of scaling and root planing. The Covered California 2026 adult plan used by default here lists periodontics other than maintenance among major services, at 50 % after a $50 deductible, while it puts periodontal maintenance with basic services. Other plans pay deep cleanings as basic work, often at a higher share. On the median network price, the example plan pays $405 and leaves $455 to the patient. The calculator lets you set your own plan's percentage.
Timing matters for new members. With the example plan's 6-month wait for major services, a deep cleaning two months after joining is paid by no one but the patient, who would owe the whole network price of $861. Proof of earlier coverage lifts that wait in the example plan. The waiting period page computes the gap for any plan.
Your share of a deep cleaning, with your plan
You pay for deep cleaning (scaling and root planing) in New York
$220
| Estimated dentist charge (full fee) | $790 |
| Estimated in-network price | $389 |
| Plan pays (50 % after deductible) | $170 |
| Deductible | $50 |
Out of network, and with Medicaid
Out of network, the example plan still pays its share of its own allowance, but the office can bill the gap up to its full fee. On the median estimate that gap is $632 for the four quadrants, owed by the patient on top of the coinsurance. Choosing the out of network option in the calculator adds it to your share.
Medicaid is a separate case. Federal rules require dental coverage for children enrolled in Medicaid, but the federal Medicaid agency leaves adult dental benefits to each state, with no minimum. Some states pay scaling and root planing for adults, others only emergency care. The Medicaid dental page gives the level of adult coverage reported for each state.
Before the appointment
Ask how many quadrants are planned and which code each will carry, D4341 or D4342, and whether maintenance visits will follow and at what interval, since each of those is billed again. Compare the per-quadrant price with the estimate for your state. Prices run higher in large cities and with periodontists than with general dentists. Without a plan, the page on paying without insurance lists ways the bill can be lowered.