Realdentalcosts

npm version license: MIT node >=18

A price-transparency data source for your AI assistant. Most dental-cost numbers floating around the web are guesses, ad copy, or averages nobody can trace back to a source. This server hands your assistant a structured, citable dataset instead: 12 common dental procedures, priced across all 51 US states (including DC) and 200+ cities, plus the insurance-coverage math that turns a list price into what a patient actually pays out of pocket.

Data comes from the Real Dental Costs US Dental Cost Index 2026 — an openly published dataset (DOI below), not a scrape or an estimate pulled from thin air.

Quick Start

No installation needed — run directly with npx.

Claude Desktop / Claude Code

Add to your MCP config (claude_desktop_config.json or .mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "realdentalcosts": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "realdentalcosts-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Add to .cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "realdentalcosts": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "realdentalcosts-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Restart your client after saving. The server runs entirely offline over stdio — no API key, no network calls, no telemetry.

Tools

dental_cost_by_state

Low/average/high cash price for a procedure in one US state, benchmarked against the national average and the state's dental cost index.

procedure: "implant"   state: "CA"
→ California: $4,013 – $5,733 – $8,026
  National average: $3,141 – $4,489 – $6,285
  +27.7% vs. national average

dental_cost_by_city

Average cost and clinic count for a specific city, with the parent state's low/high range for context (the source tracks a single observed average per city procedure — not a separate city-level min/max).

city: "Los Angeles"   state: "CA"
→ 567 clinics
  Implants avg $4,500 (CA range $4,013 – $8,026)
  Veneers avg $1,800 (CA range $1,075 – $2,295)
  Braces avg $5,800 (CA range $3,670 – $6,190)

out_of_pocket_estimate

What a patient actually pays under cash, insurance (typical US PPO: preventive ~100%, basic ~80% up to a $1,500 annual max, major/ortho ~50% up to the same max, cosmetic/implants not covered), or savings_plan (~20-40% network discount).

procedure: "crown"   state: "TX"   mode: "insurance"
→ List price: $445 – $1,155 – $1,780
  Estimated out-of-pocket: $223 – $578 – $890
  "Major tier: plan typically pays ~50%, up to the $1,500 annual max."

dental_national_average

National average across all 51 states + DC, plus the cheapest and priciest state on average.

procedure: "braces"
→ National average: $2,885 – $3,606 – $4,868
  Cheapest: Alabama ($3,007 avg)
  Priciest: California ($4,586 avg)

All four tools accept lang: "en" | "es" (default "en") — procedure labels, disclaimers, and Medicaid coverage notes switch to Spanish, serving the US Hispanic market covered by the source site's /es/ pages.

Every response includes source and reference_url fields so the numbers stay traceable back to the published page they come from.

Data & methodology

Data is derived from the US Dental Cost Index 2026, an open dataset published by Real Dental Costs:

• Dataset DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20531729
• Full index: https://realdentalcosts.com/en/us-dental-cost-index/
• Interactive state comparison: https://realdentalcosts.com/en/compare/
• Methodology: https://realdentalcosts.com/en/methodology/

State-level implant/veneer/braces prices are observed averages from the index; other procedure prices are the national low/avg/high scaled by each state's composite cost index. National averages are the arithmetic mean of all 51 states (incl. DC) — never a separately invented number. No value in this package is hand-edited or fabricated; regenerate src/data/cities.json at any time with node scripts/extract-cities.mjs <path-to-dental_costs.json>.

Disclaimer

This package provides market research pricing data — not medical advice, not a quote, and not a guarantee of what any specific dentist will charge. Actual prices vary by clinic, provider, insurance plan, and case complexity. Always confirm pricing directly with a licensed dental provider before treatment.

License

MIT © tresor4k