Deep Periodontal Cleaning Costs About $225 per Quadrant

When we asked dentists about their average fee for one quadrant of deep perio cleaning, the answer was about $225. Full-mouth debridement costs, on average, about $175.

“There is some abuse of this code, making it harder for our office to get reimbursement from third party providers,” said a periodontist.

Not surprisingly, a periodontal cleaning costs somewhat more from a periodontist than a general dentist.

Here are some comments from dentists and periodontists:

• “Doing this in conjunction with a Laser gets better results.” (California dentist)

• “It’s easy money done in conjunction with quadrant dentistry.” (District of Columbia dentist)
• “There is room for adjusting that default fee – number of teeth, difficulty of patient compliance, etc.” (Oklahoma dentist)
• “Full moth debridement is only rarely used the way the code is written and is (ab)used by dentists as a code for a ‘difficult prophy.’ It is a code that should be changed or deleted.” (Indiana periodontist)
• “We need a code or severity grading of the ‘prophy’… There has to be some indication of conditions somewhat between relative health and full-blown disease.” (Maryland dentist)
• “This may not be definitive care for a periodontal inflammatory periodontal response (acute or chronic) and is only of value in an overall treatment plan of reevaluation.” (Ohio periodontist)
• “With completion of 4 quads of scaling and root planing we give a Sonicare toothbrush.” (Texas dentist)

Read more: Cost of Periodontal Cleaning for Gum Disease