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Second Set

Removable dentures · read, not estimated

A second set, and what it really costs

What dentures costStart with partials

Second Set Guide is about removable dentures — full, partial, flexible and immediate. What they cost comes off published fee schedules, not off an estimate; what they are like to live with comes off public health-service and dental-association guidance. Every figure here carries its source and the day we read it.

A bedside shelf at night: a lamp, a glass of water, an open denture case with a denture in it, a soft brush and a folded towel.
Full (complete)Replaces a whole upper or lower arch. Held by suction and fit.
PartialFills gaps and clips to the teeth you still have.
ImmediateFitted the day the teeth come out; relined later as the ridge settles.
Implant-retainedClipped onto implants. Fixed work, and a different subject — not covered here.

Chapter one

Where the figures come from

Most pages about denture prices open with a range and never say where it came from. This one opens with the opposite problem: we went looking for a free, public, national average retail price for a denture in the United States on 24 September 2026 and could not find one. So there is no invented range on this site. What there is instead is what three published fee schedules actually pay for a denture, side by side, with the effective date on each.

They do not agree. For one full upper denture the three sit at $525.00, $988.00 and $1,242.12 — a spread of 2.4 times for the same procedure. Knowing that before somebody quotes you is most of the value this site can offer.

Who this is for

Roughly one older adult in eight in the United States has no natural teeth left. The CDC's National Center for Health Statistics put complete tooth loss among adults aged 65 and over at 12.9% for 2015–2018, rising to 17.8% among those aged 75 and over — and the same brief found 31.9% among older adults with less than a high school education against 9.5% among those with a high school education or more. Tooth loss is not spread evenly, and neither is the ability to pay for what replaces it.

If you are somewhere in that, you are who this is written for: someone facing a first denture, or a partial, or a set that has stopped fitting, who would like the numbers and the plain facts before the appointment rather than after it.

What this site covers, and what it does not

We cover removable dentures: the ones that come out at night. Full dentures, partial dentures that clip to remaining teeth, flexible partials, immediate dentures fitted the day the teeth come out, temporary ones, relines, repairs and cleaning.

We do not cover implant work. Dentures clipped onto implants, and arches fixed in place with them — the things searched for as "permanent dentures" or "all-on-4" — are fixed dentistry, a different price scale and a different decision. Where they come up here, they are named and handed off, not explained badly in passing.

How this site is written

Three rules, and they are the whole editorial policy.

  1. No number without a source and a date. Every price is copied off a document anyone can download, and the document is named with its effective date and the day we read it. Where nothing is published, this site says so and prints nothing.
  2. No dentist has read any of it. Nobody here has dental qualifications, and we have not hired anyone who does. That is stated at the top of every page rather than buried, and there is no reviewer's name in the structured data either.
  3. The free answer first. Where a dental school clinic, a community health centre or a state programme is the honest answer, it is named — and those pay this site nothing. Where a link does pay us, it is marked as paid before you reach it, and what we turned down is published too.

The one thing we will not do at any commission is send you to a mail-order or "boil-and-bite" denture kit. A denture presses on a ridge that changes shape, and an appliance made without an examination has nobody watching what happens underneath it. Why we refuse those links is its own chapter.

Complete tooth loss, adults 65 and over, 2015–2018. The share of older adults in the United States with no natural teeth left — 12.9% overall, and very unevenly spread.
Source: CDC/NCHS Data Brief No. 368, June 2020 — Prevalence of Tooth Loss Among Older Adults, read 24 September 2026. Across the whole period 1999–2000 to 2017–2018 the age-adjusted figure fell from 29.9% to 13.1%.

Chapter two

Everything else, one question at a time

11 chapters, each answering a single question about choosing, paying for or living with a removable denture.

3D-Printed Dentures: What Is Actually Cleared, and What Is Not

Printed denture bases are real, regulated and in routine laboratory use. What that does not mean is a denture you can order without a dentist — the FDA clearances say so in the indications themselves.

Read this chapter →

Full Dentures With Extractions: How the Bill Is Built

A quote for "full dentures with extractions" is at least three separate things stacked together, and one of them is counted per tooth. Here is how to take the stack apart before you agree to it.

Read this chapter →

Sore Spots and Adjustments: What to Do, and What Not to Do

A new denture rubs, and the fix is an appointment that costs less than almost anything else on the schedule. The things people try instead — filing it, packing it with adhesive, waiting it out — are the ones that cause damage.

Read this chapter →

Denture Relines: What They Are and What They Cost

A reline puts a new fitting surface on the denture you already own. It exists because the ridge underneath keeps changing shape — and it is a priced, routine appointment on every fee schedule we read.

Read this chapter →

Dentures vs Implants: What Actually Separates Them

One comes out at night and rests on the gum; the other is fixed into bone by surgery. The comparison is less about which is better than about which is possible — and about two very different shapes of bill.

Read this chapter →

DIY and "Boil-and-Bite" Dentures: Why We Will Not Link One

Mail-order denture kits are real products with real affiliate programmes, and this site turns them down. Here is the reasoning, and what the ADA and the FDA actually say about appliances made without an examination.

Read this chapter →
All 11 chapters

Questions people ask us

How much do dentures cost?
There is no single national price, and anyone quoting one is estimating. What is published are fee schedules, and they disagree sharply: for one full upper denture, Pennsylvania's Medical Assistance schedule effective 1 August 2026 pays $525.00, Montana's denturist schedule effective 1 July 2025 pays $988.00, and Washington's Department of Corrections schedule effective 1 January 2025 pays $1,242.12. Those are payer rates rather than private-practice fees, and a private quote can sit well outside all three. In England the NHS charges one Band 3 fee of £332.10 for a course of treatment that includes dentures. The only number that will match your bill is the written treatment plan a dentist gives you after examining your mouth.
What is the difference between a full and a partial denture?
A full denture replaces every tooth in one arch and rests on the gum ridge; a partial fills the gaps and holds on to the teeth you still have, usually with clasps or rests. The schedules price them as different procedures: Montana's lists a full upper denture at $988.00 and an upper partial with an acrylic base at $671.84, with a cast metal framework at $1,185.60. Which one is even possible depends on how many sound teeth are left and how healthy the gum and bone around them are, and that is an examination question, not a price question.
Does Medicare pay for dentures?
Original Medicare does not. Medicare.gov states plainly that Medicare "doesn't cover dental services like routine cleanings, fillings, tooth extractions (removals), or items like dentures and implants", with narrow exceptions for dental work that is part of a covered medical treatment, such as before an organ transplant or certain cancer treatment. Medicare Advantage is a separate question: Medicare.gov says most Advantage plans "offer extra benefits that Original Medicare doesn't cover— like vision, hearing, dental, and more", but what any one plan pays toward a denture is set out in that plan's own documents and has to be read there.
How long does it take to get used to new dentures?
The ADA's own patient guidance is measured in weeks, not days: "New dentures may feel awkward for a few weeks until you become accustomed to them", with looseness and "minor irritation or soreness" common early on. Eating and speaking take practice. A sore spot that keeps coming back is not something to grind down at home — it is what the adjustment appointments are for, and all three schedules we read price those adjustments as their own separate line. Facial swelling, fever, trouble swallowing or breathing, bleeding that will not stop, or an ulcer that has not healed in three weeks are not part of settling in and need same-day medical help.
Can you buy dentures online or make them at home?
You can buy kits, and this site will not link to one at any commission. The ADA's policy, adopted in October 2018, "strongly discourages the practice of direct to the consumer dental laboratory services because of the potential for irreversible harm to patients", and lists partial dentures among the products it means. The FDA clearance for the printable resin these appliances are made from is explicit that the material "is intended for professional dental work only" and must be "approved by licensed practitioners before being provided to the patient". A denture presses on a ridge that changes shape; an appliance made without an examination has nobody watching what it does to the gum and bone underneath it.