A dental filling costs roughly $150 to $450 per tooth in Ontario and Toronto, and Marketplace Dentistry’s own published range for a tooth-coloured filling in Vaughan is $150 to $400. Most people land in the middle of that, because most cavities are small and involve one or two surfaces of a tooth. What pushes a number up is the surface count, the material, which tooth it is, and whether anything else has to happen at the same appointment, and the examination and x-rays that come before the filling are usually billed separately from the filling itself.

What a Filling Costs per Tooth in Ontario and Toronto

• Marketplace Dentistry’s published range: $150 to $400 per tooth for a tooth-coloured filling, stated on our own tooth-coloured fillings page. That is a range, not a quote, and it moves with the size of the filling and the material.
• Composite (white) filling, Ontario figures published by other practices: $180 to $400 at an Ontario practice in March 2026, $150 to $400 at a Toronto practice in July 2026, $200 to $500 at a Toronto cosmetic practice in an older 2021 post.
• Amalgam (silver) filling: $120 to $250 in the March 2026 Ontario figures, $120 to $350 in the July 2026 Toronto figures. Amalgam is the cheaper material and it is used far less than it used to be.
• By surface count: one Ontario practice published $150 to $250 for a one-surface filling, $200 to $350 for two surfaces, and $300 to $450 or more for three or more in 2026. Surfaces are how fillings are actually priced.
• Canada-wide figures quoted online: $150 to $400 per tooth on two 2026 pages, and a much higher $379 to $726 on a February 2026 national guide. That top figure is far above what Ontario practices publish for a routine filling, which is a good reminder to check what a number includes before comparing it to anything.
• The exam and x-rays: billed on their own. Our guide to dental checkup, exam and x-ray prices in Toronto covers what those cost and why a new patient pays more than a returning one.
• Public coverage: real, and better than most people expect. The Canadian Dental Care Plan lists permanent fillings, temporary fillings and pain control for diseased teeth as covered services. Healthy Smiles Ontario covers fillings for eligible children 17 and under, and the Ontario Seniors Dental Care Program covers repairing broken teeth and cavities for eligible seniors 65 and over.
• Replacing an old filling: priced like a new one, sometimes a little higher, because the old material has to come out first and whatever is underneath may change the plan partway through.

The Filling Terms You Will See on an Estimate

• Restoration: the clinical word for a filling. If you ask for a fee guide code for “filling” you will not find one, which is a quirk explained further down.
• Surface: one face of a tooth. A tooth has five, and a filling is billed by how many of them the cavity has reached.
• Composite resin: the tooth-coloured material, placed in layers and hardened with a curing light, bonded directly to the tooth.
• Amalgam: the silver-coloured material, roughly equal parts elemental mercury and an alloy powder of silver, tin, copper and zinc.
• Anterior and posterior: front teeth and back teeth. Back teeth take the chewing load and are harder to reach, and they are usually priced higher.
• Liner or base: a protective layer placed under a deep filling when the cavity is close to the nerve. It can be a separate line on the bill.
• Core: a large rebuild that holds a crown, not a filling, even though it looks like one. The CDCP treats it as a different service with its own rules.
• Predetermination: an estimate you send to your insurer before treatment so you can see what the plan will pay. It is not a guarantee.
• Co-payment: the share of the bill your plan will not reimburse. The Ontario Dental Association puts it at typically 20 to 50 per cent.

Every one of those numbers is something a practice published on a price page, not a quote for your mouth. Fees in Ontario are set by each practice and are not fixed by anyone, so the same cavity can carry different numbers a few kilometres apart, and a dentist has to look at the tooth, take an x-ray and examine the bite before any figure means anything for you. One caution to carry into the conversation: the cheapest filling number you find online is usually the one-surface, front-tooth, best-case figure, and the cavity that sent you searching is often not that cavity.

Key Takeaways

• Published Ontario and Toronto figures for a routine filling run roughly $150 to $450 per tooth. Marketplace Dentistry publishes $150 to $400 for tooth-coloured fillings.
• Fillings are priced by surface, not by tooth. A three-surface filling on a molar and a one-surface filling on a front tooth are different products with different prices.
• The ODA Suggested Fee Guide is the document every competing page cites, and the ODA itself says it is not published on its website, that dentists are not required to follow it, and that it does not contain the word “filling” at all.
• The CDCP covers permanent and temporary fillings without preauthorization, at once per tooth surface in any 24 months, and it pays the lesser amount when composite and amalgam codes are billed on the same tooth.
• Health Canada’s position is that evidence does not warrant removing sound amalgam fillings from people who have no sign of adverse effects. That matters, because swapping silver for white across a whole mouth is one of the larger dental bills people take on voluntarily.
• No Canadian dental association, regulator or government source publishes a lifespan for a filling. The only official number attached to one is a payment frequency rule.
• Eligible children and eligible low-income seniors in Ontario can have fillings covered in full by provincial programs that almost nobody writing about filling prices mentions.
• Nobody can promise you a painless appointment, a fixed price before an examination, or that a filling will be the last thing that tooth needs.

Why a Filling Is Priced by Surface and Not by Tooth

What a Surface Is

A filling is priced by how many faces of the tooth the decay has reached, because that is what determines how long the appointment takes and how much material goes in. A molar has five surfaces. A cavity that sits in one pit on the chewing surface is a one-surface filling. A cavity that started between two teeth and has spread onto the chewing surface is a two-surface filling, and it costs more because the dentist has to rebuild a wall and a contact point that used to be solid tooth.

How Surface Count Maps to Price

Understanding that removes most of the confusion when you compare prices, because it is why the advertised figure and the quoted figure so often disagree. Somebody publishes “$150 fillings” and they are telling the truth about a small one-surface restoration on an easily reached tooth. Your cavity is between the last two molars, it has undermined a cusp, and it needs three surfaces. Same practice, same material, different number.

Those surface-count figures come from an Ontario dental practice’s 2026 fee article, and they line up reasonably with what other Ontario practices publish. They are not a fee schedule and no practice is bound by them.

Why the CDCP Counts Surfaces Too

There is a second reason surfaces matter, and it is a billing one. The Canadian Dental Care Plan sets eligibility for a restoration at once per tooth surface in any 24-month period. Not once per tooth. Once per surface. So a filling replaced on the same surface fourteen months later is a different situation from a new cavity on a different face of the same tooth, and the plan treats them differently.

What Ontario and Toronto Practices Publish for Fillings

Published Figures, With Dates

Because no public fee schedule exists that a patient can read, the closest thing to a market picture is what practices choose to publish on their own websites. Here is what was live at the end of September 2026, with dates, because dental price pages go stale quickly and a 2021 figure is not a 2026 figure.

Why the National Average Looks So Much Higher

Two things stand out. The first is how tightly the Ontario figures cluster: almost everyone lands somewhere inside $150 to $450 for a routine filling, which is unusual, because most dental cost clusters have a much wider spread. The second is the $379 to $726 figure, which sits well above everything else. It is a Canada-wide average across materials, and averages across materials will always run high when ceramic and gold are in the mix. It is not wrong, it is answering a slightly different question, and anyone comparing it to a $150 quote is comparing two different things.

These are cited without links, deliberately. Competing dental practices are not authoritative sources on fees, and where a primary source exists it gets the link instead.

The ODA Suggested Fee Guide Does Not Contain the Word “Filling”

What the Guide Is, and Where You Can Read It

Almost every page that ranks for filling costs in Ontario cites the ODA Suggested Fee Guide, usually with a confident number attached. The Ontario Dental Association says something slightly different about its own guide, and the difference matters.

The ODA states that the Guide is not available on the ODA website, and that print copies can be found in the reference section of many public libraries. It is a technical document of more than 1,400 codes, each representing a procedure in clinical terminology, and in the ODA’s own words, “you won’t find words such as cleaning, check-up, filling, cap or bridge.” So when a page tells you the Guide says a composite filling is a specific dollar figure, it is paraphrasing a code most patients have never seen, from a document they cannot download.

Nobody Has to Follow It

The ODA is equally clear on whether the Guide binds anyone. “Dentists are not required to follow the Guide or any fee schedule. They set their own fees based on the factors influencing their individual practice. This means that your dentist’s fees may vary both above and below the Guide.” The factors it lists are ordinary business ones: the complexity of the treatment, the time it takes, the materials, specialized equipment, sterilization and safety protocols, trained staff, continuing education, and the location and overhead of the practice.

What Happens If Your Dentist Charges Above It

There is a rule attached to going above it, and it comes from the regulator, not the association. The Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario states that dentists must tell patients if they intend to charge fees that are above the fees listed in the guide. The same page says estimates should include the cost of additional materials at cost and laboratory fees at cost where applicable, and that a dentist should only proceed once informed consent is obtained.

One more line from the RCDSO is the answer to a question people ask constantly and rarely get answered: what happens if the dentist finds something worse once you are in the chair. “If a dentist determines that an alteration to the treatment plan is necessary during treatment, while the patient is in the chair, the dentist should explain the additional costs and confirm that the patient, parent or substitute decision maker agrees before proceeding.” You are allowed to be told before the bill changes.

Why Your Plan May Reimburse Less Than Your Dentist Charges

The last piece of the Guide story is the insurance one, and it explains a bill a lot of people find baffling. The ODA notes that many dental plan carriers base coverage on fees and codes within the Guide, and that “in some cases, the coverage may be based on previous years’ Guides (going back a year or more).” If your plan reimburses at 2024 rates and your dentist charges 2026 fees, there is a gap, and it is nobody’s mistake.

Composite, Amalgam and the Rest of the Materials Compared

The material changes the price, and it changes a few other things people care about more. Marketplace Dentistry places tooth-coloured composite fillings, described step by step on the tooth-coloured fillings page, and also works with patients who want mercury and BPA-free restorations. Ceramic inlays and onlays are a different service again and sit with ceramic crowns and onlays, not with routine fillings.

Amalgam Is a Shrinking Option

Amalgam use has been declining for years, and Health Canada’s own environment page says so plainly: dental amalgam “was once commonly used by dentists to fill cavities in teeth, but their use has been steadily declining in Canada over the past decade.” Bulk dental amalgam powders are now prohibited under the Products Containing Mercury Regulations, while amalgam capsules are still required for specific dental procedures. So the amalgam column is a real price, but it is a shrinking option, and plenty of practices no longer place it at all.

Ceramic Is Priced Like a Crown, Not a Filling

The second note is about ceramic. It shows up on filling cost pages with a price band of its own, and that is misleading in a specific way. Once a restoration is made outside the mouth and bonded in, it is an inlay or an onlay, there is a laboratory stage, and the ODA’s rule on commercial laboratory charges applies: the laboratory charge is passed on at the exact amount the laboratory charged your dentist and is listed separately from the professional fee. That is a different bill with a different shape. Comparing it to a composite filling is comparing a two-appointment restoration to a one-appointment one.

What the Canadian Dental Care Plan Pays for a Filling

The CDCP covers fillings, and it does not require preauthorization for them. The federal coverage page lists permanent fillings, temporary fillings, pain control for diseased teeth and other treatments for cavities under basic restorative services. Our fuller breakdown of what the CDCP covers, with every limit and exclusion goes through the whole list, and who qualifies and how to apply covers the eligibility side, including the annual renewal that catches people out.

The Rules That Apply Specifically to Fillings

Five rules from the federal Dental Benefits Guide apply specifically to fillings, and three of them are almost never mentioned anywhere else.

There is one filling-adjacent exclusion. The Guide lists restorations for incisal wear involving enamel and dentin as permanently excluded, which is the worn-down biting edge of a front tooth, not a cavity. Exclusions are never eligible for reconsideration, a point covered in more detail in our piece on veneer costs and the CDCP exclusion list.

A Zero Per Cent Co-payment Is Not the Same as Free

A 0 per cent co-payment tier is not the same thing as free. The CDCP pays a percentage of its own established fees, which are not identical to what a practice charges, so there can still be a balance. Marketplace Dentistry is a participating CDCP provider and bills Sun Life directly for covered services, and the CDCP page sets out what that covers here. Ask the front desk for the specifics before the appointment, not after it.

Dental Insurance, Co-payments and the Part Nobody Explains

Private insurance is where most filling bills really get decided, and it is the part of the topic with the most folklore attached. The Ontario Dental Association’s patient guidance is the clearest source on it and, as far as we can tell, nothing on the first page of results for filling costs cites it.

Thirty Thousand Plans, One Bill

Start with the scale of the problem. The ODA says there are more than 30,000 different dental benefit plans in Ontario, which is why nobody at a dental office can tell you what your plan pays without looking it up, and why generic articles claiming “insurance covers 80 per cent of fillings” are guessing.

The Co-payment Cannot Be Waived

The ODA defines the co-payment as the part of the bill you will not be reimbursed for, typically 20 to 50 per cent of the claim amount. And then a sentence that surprises almost everybody: “Can my dentist waive my co-payment? No. Waiving a co-payment is insurance fraud and is against the law. Your dentist could be fined or even lose their license.” The claim form you and your dentist sign states what was provided and what was charged, and the insurer pays its share on the assumption you will pay yours. So a clinic offering to make your portion disappear is offering something it is not permitted to offer.

The ODA also draws a line that reframes the whole conversation. A dental plan and a treatment plan are two different documents. “A treatment plan is a personalized approach you and your dentist develop to treat your dental health needs. It serves as your roadmap to good oral health and should not be limited by what your dental plan covers.” Put more bluntly, later on the same page: “Remember that your dentist is treating you, not your dental plan.”

Assignment of Benefits, and What a Predetermination Is Worth

That last row deserves a note, because it is the difference between walking out $60 lighter and walking out $400 lighter. The ODA explains that assignment of benefits means the insurer pays the dentist directly, and you pay only what the plan does not cover. Where benefits are not assigned, you pay the full bill and the insurer reimburses you. The ODA opposes assignment, on the grounds that patients who handle their own reimbursement understand their coverage better, which is an unusual position for a professional association to hold and it is stated openly. Marketplace Dentistry submits dental insurance claims electronically, and the front desk can tell you which arrangement applies to your plan.

Before a larger course of work, the useful move is a predetermination. Your dentist sends the proposed treatment to your benefits administrator, who returns a predetermination of benefits. The ODA is careful about what it proves: it “doesn’t guarantee that the treatment will be covered by your health insurance plan. But it will show you what services are covered and the limitations of your plan.” For a single filling it is usually overkill. For eight of them it is not.

Free and Low-Cost Routes to a Filling in Ontario

This section exists because the filling cost pages that rank in Ontario almost never mention it, and for some readers it is the only part of the article that matters. Two provincial programs cover fillings outright for people who qualify, and they run alongside the federal plan instead of replacing it.

Healthy Smiles Ontario

Healthy Smiles Ontario covers children and youth 17 and under from low-income households, and the province’s page names the covered treatments explicitly: check-ups, cleaning, fillings for a cavity, x-rays, scaling, tooth extraction and urgent or emergency dental care. Cosmetic dentistry, including whitening and braces, is not covered. Children are automatically enrolled if the family receives Ontario Works, Ontario Disability Support, Temporary Care Assistance or Assistance for Children with Severe Disabilities. Otherwise you apply, and the income thresholds as of 1 July 2026 start at a family net income of $29,065 or lower with one dependent child and rise by $2,200 for each additional child, reaching $48,865 with ten or more. Coverage runs one benefit year, from 1 August to 31 July, or until the child’s eighteenth birthday.

The Ontario Seniors Dental Care Program

The Ontario Seniors Dental Care Program covers residents 65 and over with an annual net income of $25,480 or less for a single senior, or $42,290 combined for a couple. The covered list includes check-ups with scaling, fluoride and polishing, repairing broken teeth and cavities, x-rays, removing teeth, anaesthesia, treating infection and pain, and treating gum conditions. Repairing cavities is a filling. Eligibility requires no other form of dental benefits apart from the CDCP, which is the clause to read twice: holding CDCP coverage does not disqualify a senior from OSDCP. Coverage ends 31 July each year no matter when you enrol. Our guide to dental care for seniors covers the wider picture.

Check Participation Before You Assume

There is a practical wrinkle with the provincial programmes: not every practice participates in every one of them, and participation is voluntary. The programme pages and your local public health unit are the place to check, and it is a phone call to make before assuming a filling is unaffordable.

Should You Pay to Replace Silver Fillings With White Ones?

This is an expensive decision and a discretionary one, and the answer most of the internet skips comes from the federal health regulator.

What Health Canada Actually Says

Health Canada’s position statement on dental amalgam, summarised from its 1996 risk assessment and affirmed by an updated assessment completed in 2020, says it plainly: “Evidence does not warrant the removal of existing amalgam fillings from individuals who have no indications of adverse effects.” The same document says a total ban on amalgam is not considered justified, and neither is the removal of sound amalgam fillings in patients with no sign of adverse health effects attributable to mercury.

On the underlying safety question, Health Canada’s public health page is similarly direct: “Elemental mercury from dental fillings does not generally pose a health risk. There is, however, a fairly small number of people who are hypersensitive to mercury.”

The Situations Where Replacement Is Supported

That is not the whole story, and the position statement is careful to say so. Health Canada advises dentists to take a specific set of measures, and several of them do point toward replacement or avoidance in particular situations.

The Arithmetic on a Full-Mouth Quote

So where does that leave the money question. If a silver filling is cracked, leaking, has decay under it or is causing symptoms, replacing it is a clinical decision and the cost is what it is. If it is sound and you simply dislike how it looks, that is a legitimate reason to want it changed and it is also an elective cosmetic choice with a real price attached, one you can take your time over. Our article on whether silver tooth fillings need to be replaced goes through the clinical warning signs, and the mercury and BPA-free fillings page sets out what the practice does and does not use. I would rather a patient hear the Health Canada line before they agree to a full-mouth quote than after it.

One arithmetic point that rarely gets made. Someone with eight amalgam fillings looking at composite replacements at $150 to $400 each is looking at roughly $1,200 to $3,200 of elective work, which is what a crown or two would cost. That is not a reason to say no, but it is a reason to ask what the clinical indication is for each tooth individually instead of treating the mouth as one purchase.

What Else Lands on the Bill Beside the Filling

The Line Items

The filling fee is one line. For a new patient with a toothache, it is often not even the largest line. Here is what else can appear, and roughly when.

This is where most people feel ambushed by a filling bill. They researched “how much is a filling”, found $200, and paid $340 because the visit also included a new patient exam and two bitewing x-rays. Nothing improper happened. The number they researched was answering a narrower question than the one they had.

When a Filling Is No Longer the Right Answer

Where the Line Sits

A filling replaces missing tooth structure. There is a point where too little structure is left for that to work, and past that point the honest answer is a different treatment at a different price. A dentist cannot always tell which side of that line a tooth is on until the old filling and the decay are out.

The Case for Doing Nothing Yet

That last row matters more than it looks. Not every dark spot on an x-ray is a hole, and not every hole needs filling today. Early demineralisation in enamel can be watched and treated preventively. If a dentist tells you a small lesion is being monitored rather than drilled, that is a conservative decision and it is the cheapest outcome available. It is also, sometimes, the reason people get very different treatment plans from two different practices, which is covered further down.

What Moves a Filling Estimate Up or Down

Why Two Ontario Quotes for the Same Cavity Look Different

Seven Reasons a Quote Can Differ

People compare quotes and assume one practice is overcharging. Sometimes that is the explanation. More often it is one of these, and knowing which is which saves a lot of frustration.

Getting a Second Opinion

If the gap still does not make sense after you have asked, you are entitled to a second opinion. The ODA’s guidance is level about what that involves: “If you’re concerned with any aspect of a proposed treatment plan, you can always seek a second opinion,” and you will likely pay for another examination and consultation to get one. For a single small filling that cost may exceed the difference in quotes. For a plan involving six teeth it rarely does.

What Happens at a Filling Appointment

The Sequence

Knowing the sequence helps, partly because it explains where the money goes and partly because the unknown is what makes people put the appointment off. The steps below follow the process described on our tooth-coloured fillings page.

The whole thing is usually one visit. Our service page notes that one or two routine cavities can often be filled in under an hour. That is a general statement about routine work, not a promise about your appointment, and a deep or awkward cavity takes longer. Nobody can promise a completely comfortable experience either, though local anaesthetic makes the procedure manageable for most people, and if dental anxiety is the thing keeping you away, say so when you book. It changes how the appointment is planned.

Afterwards

Some sensitivity to cold or to pressure is common for a while and usually settles. Sensitivity that gets worse instead of better, a bite that feels high after a day or two, or pain that wakes you at night are reasons to call the office rather than wait it out. Our page on general tooth pain covers what different kinds of pain tend to mean.

How Long a Filling Lasts, and Why That Number Is Missing Here

Why There Is No Number Here

Every competing page on this topic gives a lifespan. Composite seven to ten years, amalgam ten to fifteen, gold twenty or more. Those figures are repeated so consistently that they read like established fact.

We could not verify any of them against a Canadian dental association, a regulator, a government source or a systematic review. The ODA has no page on fillings. Health Canada’s amalgam documents address safety and mercury exposure, not durability. The Canadian Dental Association’s procedure page for fillings returns a 404, which its pages have now done on six consecutive checks in this series. So this article does not publish a lifespan, for the same reason our veneers cost guide does not publish one.

The one official number attached to the life of a filling in Canada is not a clinical figure at all. It is a payment rule: the CDCP will pay for a restoration on a given tooth surface once in any 24 months, and it treats an existing restoration as replaceable for core purposes once it is more than 24 months old. Those are budget decisions made by a plan, not predictions about your tooth.

What Decides It Instead

What decides how long a filling lasts is more useful than a number anyway.

The Cost of Waiting

What Each Step of Delay Costs

It is fair to point out that decay does not reverse once a cavity has formed, and that the treatments further along the path cost more than a filling. It is not fair to turn that into a scare tactic, so here is the plain version with the numbers linked instead of asserted.

A cavity caught early is a one-surface filling. The same cavity six months later may be a two or three-surface filling. If it reaches the pulp, you are looking at root canal treatment, usually followed by a crown, and that combination is several times the cost of the filling that would have prevented it. If the tooth cannot be saved, removal is cheaper in the short term and considerably more expensive once you count replacing the tooth.

None of which means panic. It means that “I will deal with it next year” has a price, and that the price is knowable in advance. The Public Health Agency of Canada’s page on oral diseases and conditions is a reasonable neutral overview if you want to read about decay itself instead of its cost. Our article on how to tell if you have a cavity covers the signs, and tooth-coloured fillings as a solution for cavities covers the restoration itself.

The Cheapest Dentistry

The cheapest dentistry is the dentistry you do not need. The ODA’s own list for limiting costs is unglamorous and correct: brush at least twice daily for two to three minutes, floss daily, limit sugary drinks and snacks, and visit for regular care including an examination. A routine checkup, a cleaning and, for children, sealants are all cheaper than the work they head off.

Questions Worth Asking Before You Agree to a Filling Estimate

Questions Specific to a Filling Quote

The ODA suggests five questions for any proposed treatment: why this option, what are the alternatives, what happens if I refuse or delay, how do I prevent this recurring, and how do I maintain the result. Those are good. Here are the ones specific to a filling quote.

Talking It Through in Vaughan

If you have a cavity, a filling that has started to bother you, or a quote you do not understand, the useful next step is an examination. A dentist has to see the tooth, look at an x-ray and check how you bite before any number means anything, and the ODA is explicit that estimates are rarely given without an examination for exactly that reason.

Marketplace Dentistry is at 9360 Bathurst Street, Unit 103, in the Rutherford Marketplace plaza at Bathurst and Rutherford in Vaughan, and has been practising there since 2010. We place tooth-coloured fillings as part of general dentistry, we are a participating CDCP provider billing Sun Life directly for covered services, and we submit private insurance claims electronically. You can book an examination through the contact page.

What an Examination Gets You

Booking an examination does not commit you to treatment. You will get a look at what is happening, an estimate for what is proposed, and the option to think about it, get a second opinion, or decide against it. Fees, coverage and the treatment plan itself can all change once someone has examined the tooth, and a written estimate is the thing to ask for before anything else happens.

Frequently Asked Questions About Dental Filling Costs

How much does a dental filling cost in Ontario?

Published Ontario figures put a routine filling at roughly $150 to $450 per tooth in 2026, with one-surface fillings near the bottom and three-surface composite restorations near the top. Marketplace Dentistry publishes $150 to $400 for tooth-coloured fillings. Practices set their own fees, so the only figure that applies to you is the written estimate after an examination.

How much does a filling cost in Toronto?

Toronto figures sit inside the same band as the rest of Ontario. A Toronto practice published $150 to $400 for composite and $120 to $350 for amalgam in July 2026, and an older 2021 Toronto cosmetic practice page published $200 to $500 for composite. Search interest in the Toronto-specific phrasing has been falling, while the province-wide and Canada-wide questions keep growing.

How much is a tooth filling without insurance in Canada?

The same as with insurance. The fee does not change, only who pays it. Without a plan you pay the full restoration fee plus the examination and any x-rays, so a first visit for one filling commonly lands higher than the filling figure alone. If income is the barrier, check Healthy Smiles Ontario, the Ontario Seniors Dental Care Program and the Canadian Dental Care Plan before assuming you have to pay privately.

Why is a tooth filling so expensive?

The Ontario Dental Association lists the factors that shape any dental fee: the complexity of the treatment, the time it takes, the materials, specialized equipment, sterilization and safety protocols, trained and licensed staff, continuing education, and the practice’s location and overhead. A composite filling is a layered, cured, shaped and polished restoration placed under magnification in a dried field, which is a different job from the quick patch people picture.

How much will a dentist charge for a filling?

Whatever their own fee schedule says, which they set themselves. The ODA states that dentists are not required to follow its Suggested Fee Guide or any fee schedule, and that fees may fall above or below it. The RCDSO requires a dentist who charges above the guide to tell the patient. You can ask directly where a practice sits.

Does the Canadian Dental Care Plan cover fillings?

Yes. Permanent fillings, temporary fillings, pain control for diseased teeth and other treatments for cavities are listed as covered basic restorative services, and they do not require preauthorization. Eligibility is once per tooth surface in any 24-month period, and a co-payment may apply depending on your adjusted family net income tier.

Does OHIP cover fillings?

No. OHIP does not cover dental services provided in a dentist’s office. The provincial routes to covered dental treatment are the age and income based programmes, Healthy Smiles Ontario for children and youth 17 and under and the Ontario Seniors Dental Care Program for eligible residents 65 and over.

Does insurance cover white fillings on back teeth?

Some plans reimburse composite on posterior teeth at the amalgam rate and leave you the difference. There are more than 30,000 different dental benefit plans in Ontario, so the only reliable answer comes from your own booklet or your plan administrator. Ask specifically about posterior composite before the appointment.

Can I wait six months to fill a cavity?

It depends on what the cavity is. An early lesion that has not broken through the enamel can sometimes be monitored and treated preventively. A cavity that has formed a hole does not reverse, and waiting means the restoration gets larger and the options narrow. A dentist looking at the tooth and the x-ray is the only person who can tell you which of those you have.

Is it cheaper to fill a cavity or pull a tooth?

Removing a tooth usually costs less on the day and more over time, once replacing it is counted. Our extraction cost guide works through that comparison properly, including what the space costs to fill afterwards. Cost is also not the only factor, because a tooth that can be restored predictably is generally worth keeping.

How long do fillings last?

We do not publish a figure, because we could not verify one against any Canadian dental association, regulator, government source or systematic review. The commonly repeated numbers appear on clinic pages without a source behind them. What decides it in practice is the size of the filling, which tooth it is in, whether you grind, your decay risk, your home care, gum health around the tooth, and whether problems get caught early at recall visits.

Why would a dentist choose not to fill a cavity?

Because not every dark area is a cavity that needs drilling. Early demineralisation in enamel that has not cavitated can be monitored, and treated with fluoride and changes to diet and home care. Filling it prematurely removes healthy tooth structure that never grows back. Monitoring is a conservative decision, and it is the cheapest outcome available.

Can you heal a cavity without a filling?

Early enamel demineralisation can remineralise. Once decay has broken through the enamel and formed a cavity, the lost structure does not come back and a restoration is needed to seal the tooth. Anything claiming to reverse an established cavity at home is describing something different from what a dentist means by the word.

Can teeth decay under a filling?

Yes, which is why x-rays are part of a filling assessment. Decay at the margin of an existing restoration is one of the most common reasons a filling gets replaced, and it is often invisible on the surface. That is also why the tooth underneath sometimes turns out to need more work than the x-ray suggested.

What is the healthiest type of filling?

There is no single answer that holds for every patient. Health Canada advises dentists to give patients enough information to make an informed choice about the material used and to acknowledge the patient’s right to decline treatment with any dental material. It also advises non-mercury materials for children’s primary teeth where the mechanical properties suit, and avoiding amalgam in pregnancy, in impaired kidney function and in known mercury hypersensitivity.

Should I replace my silver fillings with white ones?

Health Canada’s position is that evidence does not warrant removing existing amalgam fillings from people who have no indication of adverse effects. If a silver filling is cracked, leaking or has decay under it, replacing it is clinical. If it is sound and you dislike the look, that is a valid but elective choice, and eight replacements at $150 to $400 each is a significant amount of discretionary work. Ask for the indication tooth by tooth.

Can my dentist waive my co-payment?

No. The ODA states that waiving a co-payment is insurance fraud and against the law, and that a dentist could be fined or lose their licence. The claim form both of you sign states what was provided and charged, and the insurer pays its share assuming you will pay yours.

How much does it cost to replace an old filling?

Replacement is priced much like a new filling of the same size and material, sometimes slightly higher because the old material has to be removed first. The complication is what is found underneath. If decay has spread under the old restoration, the replacement may need more surfaces than expected, or the tooth may need an onlay or a crown instead.

Are fillings free for children in Ontario?

For eligible children they are. Healthy Smiles Ontario covers fillings for a cavity, along with check-ups, cleaning, x-rays, scaling, extractions and urgent care, for children and youth 17 and under from households meeting the income thresholds. Children whose families receive Ontario Works or Ontario Disability Support are enrolled automatically. Cosmetic treatment is not covered.

Why did my filling cost more than the price I found online?

Usually because the online figure was the restoration alone and your visit included more than that. A new patient examination and x-rays are separate charges, a bigger cavity means more surfaces, and advertised prices describe the simplest case. Asking whether the estimate includes the exam and imaging removes most of that gap before it appears on the invoice.

Editor’s Note on the Images in This Article

Three images were produced for this article with the Higgsfield nano_banana_pro model and uploaded to the Marketplace Dentistry media library. Full records are held with the publishing log.

Graphics a qualified designer and dental reviewer could usefully build from here: a diagram of the five surfaces of a molar with the one, two and three-surface price bands mapped onto them; a decision flow running from early lesion to monitoring, filling, onlay, root canal and removal; a side-by-side of what is and is not included in a filling estimate; a coverage grid comparing the CDCP, Healthy Smiles Ontario, the Ontario Seniors Dental Care Program and private insurance; and a plain-language walk-through of a dental claim form showing where the co-payment sits. Generated images are unreliable for dental anatomy, tooth numbering, surface charting, clinical labels, x-rays and diagrams, so none of those should be produced that way.