Free Dental Cost API: Open JSON Data for Developers & AI Agents
Our dental cost data is available as a free, open JSON API — no key, no signup, CORS enabled. Static versioned endpoints cover all 51 U.S. state markets and 12 procedures, documented with an OpenAPI 3.1 spec, under CC BY 4.0.
Try it now
# All 51 state markets, cheapest to priciest
curl https://realdentalcosts.com/api/v1/states.json
# Full cost profile for one state (lowercase two-letter code)
curl https://realdentalcosts.com/api/v1/state/tx.json
# The 12 tracked procedures, national figures
curl https://realdentalcosts.com/api/v1/procedures.json
# One procedure across all 51 states
curl https://realdentalcosts.com/api/v1/procedure/dental-implant.json
# Dataset metadata: edition, DOIs, license, versioning policy
curl https://realdentalcosts.com/api/v1/index/meta.json
Endpoints
| Endpoint | Returns |
|---|---|
| /api/v1/index/meta.json | Edition, DOIs, license, versioning policy, endpoint index |
| /api/v1/states.json | The 51 state markets ranked on the Restorative Cost Index |
/api/v1/state/{code}.json | One state: observed series, 12 procedure price bands, Medicaid acceptance — e.g. state/ca.json |
| /api/v1/procedures.json | The 12 procedures with national low/avg/high and pricing basis |
/api/v1/procedure/{slug}.json | One procedure across all 51 states — e.g. procedure/dental-crown.json |
| /api/v1/medicaid/index.json | Medicaid paid per claim line by CDT code (HHS T-MSIS 2018-2024): index of the published codes, national paid amounts, state quality flags |
/api/v1/medicaid/{code}.json | One CDT code: national and 51-state Medicaid paid per claim line, 2018-2024 series, P25-P75, claim lines, providers, quality flag, cash benchmark — e.g. medicaid/D2740.json |
| /api/v1/meps/national.json | National dental spending, utilization and out-of-pocket burden (AHRQ MEPS HC-256/HC-251, survey-weighted, 2023-2024): totals, per-capita, medians/IQR, OOP share — macro validation layer, not per-procedure prices |
| /api/v1/openapi.json | Machine-readable OpenAPI 3.1 specification |
State codes are lowercase two-letter USPS codes (al … wy, plus dc). Procedure slugs are stable: exam-cleaning-xrays, composite-filling, deep-cleaning-srp, tooth-extraction, teeth-whitening, root-canal, dental-crown, porcelain-veneer, braces, dental-implant, dentures, all-on-4.
How to read the data
Every procedure entry declares its basis:
| Basis | Meaning |
|---|---|
observed | The state average is a measured price (our own implant series, or ASQ360/CareCredit for crown, veneer, braces, dentures). The low/high band around it is modelled from national ratios, not an observed percentile. |
estimated | No per-state source exists; the national figure is scaled by the state's Restorative Cost Index. Valid only for restorative procedures. |
national | Cosmetic procedure with no per-state source — no state variation is invented; every state carries the national range. |
Since August 2026 every price entry also carries an additive provenance block — price_type, source_id (a key into the public sources registry), source, period, sample_n, geo_level, modeled and a confidence score from 0 to 100. basis is unchanged (observed → observed_market, estimated → estimated_index, national → national_band); by_state[] entries inherit the procedure-level block and recompute only confidence.
price_type | Meaning |
|---|---|
observed_market | Measured state average from a published cash-price survey or our own observed implant series. |
observed_quotes | Real, itemised treatment plans (Real Quotes Index) — reserved, not yet used in payloads. |
estimated_index | National range scaled by the state Restorative Cost Index — modelled, confidence capped at 60. |
national_band | National range only (cosmetic) — modelled, capped at 60. |
medicaid_paid | What Medicaid actually paid per claim line (HHS T-MSIS Medicaid Provider Spending, provider state via NPPES). Paid ≠ allowed ≠ cash price. |
official_fee / chain_list_price / commercial_allowed | Published fee schedules; a chain's published "starting at" price; APCD allowed amounts (licensed, not yet published). |
confidence = round(100 × (0.35·source tier + 0.25·granularity + 0.20·freshness + 0.20·sample/dispersion)) — the weights and worked examples are on the methodology page.
The Restorative Cost Index (100 = national observed implant average) is valid only for implant, crown and denture prices, which correlate at 0.93–0.96. It does not predict orthodontic or cosmetic prices — see our data corrections log for why we insist on this.
Attribution (required)
The data is licensed CC BY 4.0. Any use — app, dashboard, article, AI answer, research — must credit Real Dental Costs with a link to https://realdentalcosts.com or cite the dataset DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20531728. Ready-to-copy APA and BibTeX citations are on the cite this data page.
Versioning
/api/v1/ is a stable contract: existing fields never change meaning or disappear; new fields may be added. Breaking changes, if ever needed, will ship under /api/v2/ with v1 kept online. Data refreshes bump the edition field in every payload (current edition: 2026.1; the T4-2026 quarterly edition is announced for October 2026).
Prefer raw files? The same data is published as CSV datasets with permanent DOIs. The full collection and validation methodology is documented on our methodology page and in the US Dental Cost Index report. This API serves pricing and market research data — it is not medical, dental or insurance advice.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an API key?
Can I use this API in a commercial product?
Will the API change and break my integration?
What does the confidence score mean?
What is the medicaid endpoint?
Where do the numbers come from?
Independent dental pricing research — every series carries a named source, and corrections are logged publicly. Not medical advice.