A filling is the cheapest way out of a cavity, and the price still surprises people. Part of that is the material, part of it is the exam and X-ray stapled to the visit, and a big part of it is something nobody explains at the front desk: dentists bill fillings by the number of tooth surfaces they have to restore.
One cavity on the chewing surface of a molar is a one-surface filling. The same cavity left alone for a year, now wrapping around to the side, is a two- or three-surface filling and costs meaningfully more. This guide covers cash prices by material and by surface count, what the visit really adds up to, and the point at which a filling stops being an option and becomes an inlay, onlay, or crown. All figures are the most recent published data available as of August 2026.
What Does a Cavity Filling Cost Without Insurance?
GoodRx, CareCredit, Aspen Dental, and DentalPlans.com publish overlapping but not identical ranges, so the table below shows the cross-source spread rather than pretending there is one number.
| Filling type | Low | Average | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amalgam (silver), by surface count | $100 | $160 | $350 |
| Composite (tooth-colored), by surface count | $100 | $191-$226 | $478 |
| Glass ionomer | $116 | $200 | $285 |
| Gold inlay or onlay | $250 | $400 | $817 |
| Porcelain or ceramic inlay or onlay | $500 | $1,150 | $2,800 |
| Exam plus X-rays at the same visit | $111 | $169 | $321 |
The two headline averages come from independent studies. GoodRx reports $160 for amalgam and $191 for composite resin per tooth. CareCredit’s 2024 national cost study, conducted by ASQ360 for Synchrony, reports composite at $226 nationally with a range of $173 to $439 and amalgam at $108 to $256. Aspen Dental, publishing its own 2026 internal pricing, averages $259 per filling across materials with a range of $171 to $374. DentalPlans.com’s planning ranges of $100 to $300 for amalgam and $150 to $450 for composite bracket all of them.
Surfaces are where a quote actually moves, and you can see it clearly in offices that publish their CDT fee schedules. One Massachusetts practice lists amalgam at $194 for one surface (D2140), $228 for two (D2150), $260 for three (D2160), and $309 for four or more (D2161). Its posterior composites run $259, $329, $407, and $478 for the same progression (D2391 through D2394). That is a 59% jump on amalgam and an 85% jump on composite from smallest to largest.
Front teeth and back teeth are coded separately. Anterior composites at that same practice run $240 to $446 (D2330 through D2335), slightly less than the posterior equivalents. GoodRx explains why: front teeth are easier to access, while molars take longer and must survive heavy chewing force.
The exam and imaging are billed on their own lines. Published fee schedules show a periodic exam around $74, a limited problem-focused exam (the code used when you show up with a specific toothache) around $119, and a new-patient comprehensive exam around $130. Imaging ranges from about $37 for an extra single X-ray to $64 for two bitewings, $95 for four, and $191 for a panoramic. A realistic first-visit total for one uninsured filling is therefore closer to $250 to $600 than the $160 headline.
What Drives the Price
Number of surfaces. This is the biggest single factor and the one most within your control, since it grows over time. Each additional surface adds roughly $35 to $70 on published fee schedules. Two smaller cavities caught early frequently cost less than one large one caught late.
Material. Amalgam is the cheapest and, per CareCredit, lasts 10 to 15 years. Composite is the most popular and lasts 5 to 10 years but costs 40% to 70% more because the dentist bonds it in layers and light-cures each one. Glass ionomer sits close to amalgam on price ($116 to $285) but has the shortest lifespan at around five years. Gold and porcelain are not really fillings at all; they are lab-made inlays and onlays, which is why they jump to $250 to $2,800.
Which tooth. Molars cost more than incisors for the same surface count because of access and chewing load. If the cavity is between two teeth or right at the gumline, expect the higher end of the range.
Depth of the decay. A cavity close to the nerve may need a protective liner or base, and if it has reached the nerve the treatment changes entirely. Aspen Dental lists cavity size and depth as a direct cost driver, and deeper work also takes longer chair time.
Where you go. CareCredit’s state-level composite data runs from $188 in Oklahoma to $365 in Hawaii, with California at $284 and Mississippi at $191. The gap between two offices in the same city is often just as wide, which is why calling around genuinely pays.
Cash Price vs. Insurance
Fillings are classified as basic restorative care, and most dental plans cover them at a percentage after the deductible. The catch for uninsured readers is the fine print. GoodRx notes that some plans will not pay for tooth-colored fillings on bicuspids and molars at all, downgrading the benefit to the amalgam fee and leaving you the difference, and that waiting periods commonly run 6 to 12 months.
That waiting period is the reason buying dental insurance today rarely solves a cavity you have today. If you need one or two fillings this month, a $150 to $600 cash visit usually beats a year of premiums plus a deductible plus a downgrade clause. Insurance makes more sense when you can wait and have a larger treatment plan queued up.
Cash has real negotiating power at a dental office. Practices collect at the chair, so ask directly for the self-pay price, ask whether it drops if you pay in full that day, and ask what the price would be in amalgam instead of composite for a back tooth. You can also compare a quote against typical cash rates with our fair price checker, and our guide to seeing a dentist without insurance covers how to find offices that publish their fees.
When a Filling Becomes Something Else
There is a point where a filling stops being the right restoration, and it changes the number on your estimate substantially. When a cavity is too large for a direct filling but the tooth does not need full coverage, dentists use an inlay or onlay, custom-made in a lab from porcelain or gold. That is the $500 to $2,800 porcelain row and the $250 to $817 gold row in the table, and it means two visits instead of one.
When there is not enough healthy tooth structure left to hold anything, the tooth needs a crown. Published prices show the scale of that jump: a crown runs $530 at the University of Louisville’s student clinic versus $1,396 for the same code at area private practices, and one published private fee schedule lists porcelain and PFM crowns at $1,677. If the decay has reached the nerve, add a root canal at $345 at the same dental school clinic versus $1,130 to $1,697 in private practice.
That is the real financial argument for not postponing. A $259 composite that becomes a $1,400 crown plus a $1,200 root canal is a 10x cost increase, and if the tooth cannot be saved you are looking at an extraction followed by a bridge or implant to fill the gap. Our guides to crown costs and root canal costs have the full numbers for each of those paths.
How to Pay Less
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Ask for the price by CDT code, not “a filling.” Request the code and the surface count on your estimate (D2140 to D2161 for amalgam, D2330 to D2394 for composite). Two quotes are only comparable when they describe the same restoration.
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Ask whether amalgam is appropriate for that tooth. On a back molar nobody sees, silver amalgam is 40% to 70% cheaper than composite and, per CareCredit, actually lasts longer. It is not the right call for a visible front tooth, but it is the single easiest way to cut the bill on a molar.
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Go to a dental school clinic. The University of Louisville School of Dentistry publishes a one-surface white filling on a back tooth (D2391) at $98 in its student clinics versus $240 at area private practices, a 59% discount, with fees generally up to 50% below private practice across services. Appointments run up to three hours, which is the trade.
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Use a community health center. Federally qualified health centers provide dental care priced on a sliding income scale, and fillings are core to what they do. Our guide to free and sliding-scale clinics covers how to find one near you.
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Consider a dental savings plan if you need several fillings. These membership programs discount participating dentists’ fees with no waiting period and no annual maximum. DentalPlans.com reports members average about 50% savings, which compounds if you have four cavities rather than one.
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Negotiate the estimate and stage the work. Ask which cavities are urgent and which can safely wait a few months, and ask for a payment plan on the rest. If a dental bill has already landed and it is wrong or unaffordable, our playbook on negotiating medical bills has the scripts that work.
The Bottom Line
For a single cavity, budget $100 to $478 for the filling itself depending on material and surface count, plus $111 to $321 for the exam and X-rays if you are a new patient. A one-surface amalgam on a back tooth at a dental school is the cheapest realistic path at roughly $100; a four-surface composite in a high-cost metro is the expensive end at close to $500.
The number that matters most is not the one on today’s estimate. Decay only grows, and every surface it spreads to adds cost until the tooth needs a crown or comes out. A twice-yearly cleaning and exam is the cheapest way to keep cavities in the $150 range instead of the $1,500 range, even when you are paying for all of it yourself.