DATA-BACKED GUIDE · UPDATED JULY 2026
Cat and dog dental costs in the UK: what people really pay
Dental work is the classic surprise vet bill. It starts as a routine scale and polish, then the vet finds teeth that need to come out, and the price climbs with every extraction. Because so much of the cost is decided while your pet is under anaesthetic, it is one of the hardest bills to predict, which is exactly why seeing what other people actually paid helps.
The quick version
- A basic scale and polish is cheap. Extractions are what drive the bill up.
- Much of the cost is fixed regardless of how many teeth: the anaesthetic, monitoring, and the vet's time.
- Quotes and final bills often differ, because the number of extractions is decided during the procedure.
- Published list prices tend to undercount reality, because they quote the starting price before extractions.
What people actually paid
The gap: advertised vs actually paid (medians)
People reported paying 84% more than the advertised list price for dental.
List prices are advertised prices; paid figures are what people reported, often for different cases. Treat the gap as a signal, not a quote.
Real prices, in people's own words
- £116“5 teeth removed and a scale and polish etc... £116”
- £280“clean & polish & two teeth removed. Cost £280”
- £450“My cat had 3 teeth out a couple of months ago and it cost £450”
- £500“Mine has had 2 teeth out in the last few weeks. Cost £500+”
- £509“£509 for 5 teeth last month including 2 follow up visits”
- £550“he eventually had his teeth removed by a smaller vets practise for 550”
Genuine amounts posted publicly. We publish the price and the quote, never the person.
Why the price varies so much
A dental is really three costs bundled together: the general anaesthetic and monitoring, the scale and polish, and then each extraction. The first part is broadly fixed, which is why even a simple dental rarely comes in cheap. The extractions are the variable, and they are decided once your pet is under and the vet can see and x-ray the mouth properly. That is why a practice can honestly quote you one figure and bill another. On top of that, the same practice ownership effect applies across all vet work: the competition regulator found corporate-owned practices charged on average 18.3% more than independents.
How to pay less
- Ask what the price includes: does it cover pre-anaesthetic bloods, x-rays, and a set number of extractions, or are those extra?
- Ask for the price per extraction, so a surprise on the day is less of a shock.
- Get a second opinion for a big dental quote. Our data shows people who rang round found the same work hundreds of pounds cheaper.
- An in-house health plan sometimes discounts dentals. Do the maths on whether the plan pays for itself.
Common questions
Why is a cat dental so expensive?
Most of the cost is the general anaesthetic, monitoring and the vet's time, which apply no matter how small the job. Extractions then add to it. That is why even a straightforward cat dental rarely comes in cheap.
Why was my final bill higher than the quote?
Because the number of teeth that need removing is usually decided during the procedure, once your pet is anaesthetised and the vet can x-ray and probe the mouth. A quote is a starting point, not a fixed price, unless the practice says otherwise in writing.
Is it worth getting a second opinion on a dental quote?
Often, yes. The real bills in our data for similar dental work span several hundred pounds, so a couple of phone calls can genuinely save money, especially for non-urgent work.