Dental clinic price list: how to build it from cost, not guesswork, and keep it
In most dental clinics the price is a number reception remembers, slightly different when the other dentist is in the chair, and lower when the patient negotiates. A clinic that does not know the cost of its filling does not know whether it earns from it, and most clinics do not know.
Price starts from cost
The cost of a composite filling: the materials consumed (composite, bond, gloves), the cost of a chair minute (rent, salaries and equipment divided by available chair minutes in the month), and the dentist's share. Three numbers calculated once per service, and the floor below which the price must not go appears.
The picture differs between services: a crown carries a lab fee paid in cash to the lab, an implant carries a fixture at a fixed purchase price, a cleaning carries more time than materials. That is why a discount applied at one rate across all services makes some of them loss-making.
One list with a structure
The list is built from services with fixed codes and names (not "filling" one day and "restoration" the next), grouped into categories: preventive, restorative, endodontic, periodontal, surgical, prosthetic, orthodontic, cosmetic, paediatric. Each service has a duration, materials, a price and variants (one-, two- or three-surface filling).
A fixed code is not just tidiness; it is what insurers ask for, what e-invoicing in Saudi Arabia requires, and what lets you compare month with month.
A cash list and insurer lists
The insurer does not pay your price; it pays its contract price. Each company has its own price list, sometimes per policy, with co-payment, maximum and exclusions. A clinic that holds these lists in the system sees on the invoice what the company will pay and what the patient will pay before it starts.
A group or staff list and a seasonal offer list are built as separate lists with start and end dates, not as a manual discount decided at reception.
Discounts are a rule, not a mood
The discount allowed per role (reception 5%, manager 15%, owner any) is set in the system, and every discount is recorded with who approved it and why. After three months it shows who discounts most and why, and whether discounts bring patients or only cut the margin.
Packages are priced as a unit
A two-session whitening package, an annual cleaning package with two visits and x-rays, an orthodontic plan in instalments: all priced as one unit at a total price, from which the per-session value is derived for package deductions and revenue recognition. The package sold at session price times count minus a random discount is the one nobody can tell at year end whether it earned.
Quotations start from the list
The quotation written for the patient is built from the list, not from memory, so two dentists give the same figure for the same case, and the insurance share appears automatically from the company's list. A price changed on the quotation is changed with permission and a recorded reason.
The annual review
Costs change: the lab raised prices, composite got dearer, rent went up. A list not reviewed in three years carries loss-making services nobody knows about. An annual review with three columns per service: current cost, price, margin. Anything below the margin floor gets a higher price, a different approach, or is dropped.
What to ask of the software
A service list with fixed codes, materials and durations; multiple dated price lists (cash, each insurer, offers); discount permissions per role with who discounted and why; packages at a total price deducted per session; and a margin report per service after materials, lab and the dentist's share.
Where to go next
Questions
How do I calculate the cost of a chair minute?
Fixed monthly costs (rent, non-production salaries, equipment and utilities) divided by available chair minutes in the month. That number times the service duration is the time cost of the service.
Should prices differ between branches?
They can, with a list per branch in the same system, as long as the difference is a written decision rather than drift accumulated over time.
How do I handle a patient asking for a discount?
With a rule: what reception may give, what needs the manager, what is never given. The discount is recorded with its reason, so it shows whether it brings patients or loses margin.
Should prices be shown on the website?
Indicative prices ("from SAR 300") bring patients and cut price-enquiry calls. The full detailed list stays in the clinic because it varies by case.
How often should the list be reviewed?
At least once a year, and after any large change in lab, material or rent prices.
What if two dentists quote different prices for the same case?
That is what one list prevents: the quotation is built from the list so both give the same figure, and any change is recorded with permission and reason.
See it on your own clinic
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