Dental costs in Maryland: implants, crowns, braces and more
In Maryland the Medicaid dental fee is close to what private dental plans pay, so the network price of a procedure is only a little above it; a molar root canal is estimated at $1,865 before insurance.
You pay for crown in Maryland
$274
$499 billed, $224 paid by the plan.
| Estimated dentist charge (full fee) | $982 |
| Estimated in-network price | $499 |
| Plan pays (50 % after deductible) | $224 |
| Deductible | $50 |
| Maryland Medicaid fee, same codes (2024) | $394 |
Estimate: Maryland Medicaid fee ÷ 45.6 % (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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| D2740 | Crown, porcelain or ceramic | 1 | $393.84 |
Compiled by Radif Partners · How prices are estimated · Maryland Medicaid - Maryland Healthy Smiles Dental Program (fee-for-service, administered by SKYGEN) fee schedule, ADA ratios of Maryland · not a quote
Maryland's estimates put comprehensive braces for a teenager at $2,492, a porcelain crown at $982, a molar root canal at $1,865 and four impacted wisdom teeth at $3,023, in September 2026 dollars before insurance. The fees come from the Maryland Healthy Smiles dental program, the state's Medicaid dental benefit, which uses one schedule for patients of every age. The ADA's 2024 study found an unusual pattern there. Medicaid paid 45.6 % of what dentists charged for adult care, a little above the national 29.9 %, but 87.3 % of what private dental plans paid them, the second highest share in the study. In practice, the network price a plan member pays is only modestly higher than the Medicaid fee, while the full fee charged to an uninsured patient is about 2 times the network price.
One schedule for every age
The Maryland Medicaid dental fee schedule, published by the state health department under the state's administrative code, gives one fee per code with no adult or children's column. The edition in force on July 1, 2024 was dated January 1, 2024, and every fee the site reads is identical in it and in the revision of August 2026. For a reader comparing the estimate with today's Medicaid payment, the two columns of the price list below therefore match.
Orthodontics is listed for both age groups, which not every state schedule does: comprehensive treatment of an adolescent and of an adult each have a fee, limited by the schedule to one treatment per lifetime. Teen braces come out at $2,492, against a median of $3,319 for the 13 states that price them. For a teenager the site pairs the fee with the children's ratio, for an adult with the adult ratio.
Maryland price, insured or uninsured
You pay for braces, teen in Maryland
$649
| Estimated dentist charge (full fee) | $2,492 |
| Estimated in-network price | $1,249 |
| Plan pays (50 % after deductible) | $599 |
| Deductible | $50 |
Full fee and network price far apart
Because Maryland's two ratios are so far apart, the gap between a dentist's full fee and a plan's network price is wider than in most states. For a porcelain crown the full fee is estimated at $982 and the network price at $499. A patient without insurance who asks for the office's cash price, or who joins a plan only for its network discount, may see a large difference; the page on paying without insurance describes both routes.
The outlier screen withholds braces or aligners, adult, full dentures, both arches, full denture, one arch and veneer in Maryland: the state's fees for that work give estimates far from those of the other states, a sign it is paid on another basis. Implants, fixed bridges and cast partial dentures are not in the schedule at all. The figures are one average for the state, with no split between Baltimore, the Washington suburbs and the Eastern Shore. The braces page explains the orthodontic codes and the lifetime maximums plans apply.
Maryland price list, procedure by procedure
| Procedure | Unit | Full fee | In network | Medicaid fee, 2024 | Medicaid fee today |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crown | per tooth | $982 | $499 | $394 | $394 |
| Root canal, front tooth | per tooth | $1,372 | $697 | $550 | $550 |
| Root canal, premolar | per tooth | $1,621 | $823 | $650 | $650 |
| Root canal, molar | per tooth | $1,865 | $948 | $748 | $748 |
| Braces, teen | full treatment | $2,492 | $1,249 | $1,035 | $1,035 |
| Simple extraction | per tooth | $337 | $171 | $135 | $135 |
| Surgical extraction | per tooth | $281 | $143 | $113 | $113 |
| Wisdom teeth, four impacted | four teeth | $3,023 | $1,536 | $1,212 | $1,212 |
| Deep cleaning (scaling and root planing) | full mouth | $898 | $456 | $360 | $360 |
| Filling | per tooth | $345 | $175 | $138 | $138 |
| Checkup and cleaning | one visit | $307 | $156 | $123 | $123 |