A $500 dog teeth cleaning quote is higher than 49 of the 56 published prices in our October 2026 survey, and higher than all 30 Banfield prices, which top out at $491.95. It is still a fair price when it already includes full-mouth dental x-rays, when the teeth need more than a routine cleaning, or when it covers minor extractions.
Is $500 too much? The short answer
- Where it sits: above 49 of 56 published prices; the median is $409
- Fair when: full-mouth x-rays are in the price, or minor extractions are
- Worth a second quote when: $500 buys a routine cleaning and nothing else
- Check first: what the $500 includes, the grade of cleaning, and any exam or consult fee on top
From 56 prices published by 45 US providers in 32 states, read on the providers’ own pages in October 2026.
Prices vary by clinic, by region and by what the fee covers. This is cost research, not veterinary advice. Ask your own vet for a written estimate before you book, and ask what it includes.
Where does a $500 dog teeth cleaning quote sit?
The median published price to clean a dog’s teeth is $409, half of all prices fall between $304 and $468, and only 7 of 56 prices are $500 or more.
| Your quote | Share of published prices below it |
|---|---|
| $200 | 11% |
| $300 | 23% |
| $400 | 38% |
| $409 | 52% (the median) |
| $450 | 64% |
| $500 | 88% |
| $600 | 98% |
Read that table with one caveat. Thirty of the 56 prices come from one company, Banfield Pet Hospital, because every one of the 30 Banfield hospitals we checked publishes its own price. Leave Banfield out and the median of the other 26 prices is $288, with the middle half between $225 and $475. Against those 26, 7 are $500 or more.
Few clinics publish a dental price at all. A 2026 study of 177 clinics in eight US states found that only 3 of the 157 clinic websites it reviewed, or 1.91%, list any prices (Adams et al., Frontiers in Veterinary Science). The clinic that quoted you is probably not in any table, so the next four questions matter more than the percentile.
Is $500 normal for a Banfield or nonprofit dental cleaning?
No: $500 is more than double the typical nonprofit price and above every Banfield hospital in the survey. The median is $225 at nonprofits, $370 at private clinics and $433 at Banfield.
| Provider type | Prices | Median | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nonprofit | 13 | $225 | $125 to $575 |
| Private clinic | 13 | $370 | $225 to $700 |
| Banfield | 30 | $433 | $380.95 to $491.95 |
Banfield’s published dental cleaning runs from $380.95 to $491.95, and its pages say all anesthetic procedures include routine bloodwork, an IV catheter and fluids, and routine anesthesia and monitoring. The same pages add that an office visit fee is required for all services but do not state the amount, so ask for it. A $500 quote from a Banfield hospital may be close to the listed price plus that fee, so ask the hospital what its office visit fee is.
Four private clinics publish $500 or more. The Pet Advocate Vet in Tracy, California, charges $700 for dogs and cats of any size. Pet Dental Clinic in Colorado charges $500. Quick Fix Veterinary Clinic in Michigan lists $500 for dogs of 50 to 85 lb, and Good Care Animal Clinic in Miami $525 for dogs over 90 lb.
Three nonprofits do too: the Humane Society of Manatee County in Florida at $575, the Animal Humane Society in Minnesota at $556.50 and the Lehigh Valley Humane Society in Pennsylvania at $500. At the other end, the Low Cost Spay & Neuter Clinic in Indiana lists $125 to $165 by weight.
Does a $500 dental cleaning include x-rays?
Usually not: only 6 of 45 providers say their base price includes dental x-rays. A $500 quote with full-mouth x-rays is a different product from a $500 quote for the cleaning alone.
Pet Dental Clinic’s $500 is the cleaning, bloodwork and full-mouth x-rays together. The Pet Advocate Vet’s $700 adds fluoride to the same three. Rocket City Veterinary Hospital in Alabama lists $370 for a Grade 1 cleaning that it says covers bloodwork, IV fluids and full-mouth radiographs, which is why it is possible to pay less than $500 for the same bundle.
Now compare a list that prices each line separately. Animal House Veterinary Clinic in Nashville lists the cleaning from $376, full-mouth x-rays at $276 and a $388 package of bloodwork, an IV catheter and fluids. Those three lines come to $1,040 or more, against $500 for the bundle in Colorado.
Lehigh Valley Humane Society’s $500 is listed as a dental cleaning, with a $46 consultation fee before the procedure. The line-by-line method for any two quotes is in what is included in a dog dental cleaning quote.
Does a higher grade of dental justify $500?
Often, yes. Clinics that grade their dentals charge more as the disease gets worse, and at three of them a higher grade costs between $475 and $520, close to a $500 quote.
Rocket City lists Grade 1 at $370, then $410, $460 and $520 for Grades 2 to 4. The Humane Society of Utah’s St. George clinic lists $250 for a cleaning with no x-rays and $500 for a Level 2 dental with full-mouth x-rays and minor extractions. Texas Humane Heroes lists $275 for x-rays and cleaning and $475 for a moderate dental with up to five extractions.
The Humane Society of Manatee County’s $575 already includes minor extractions, as well as the exam, sedation and bloodwork. If your vet has told you teeth may need to come out, a $500 quote that includes them can cost less in total than a $300 quote that bills extractions separately. Lehigh Valley, for example, adds $125 to $350 for extractions.
Two other things move the price. Good Care Animal Clinic charges $525 for an annual cleaning of its biggest dogs, but $595 for a dog over 80 lb having a first cleaning, or one more than a year after the last. And among the five providers that price by weight, the top weight band, over 80 lb, runs from $140 in Indiana to $525 in Miami.
Do dog teeth cleaning quotes vary by state?
Yes, even within one company. The same Banfield cleaning costs $380.95 in Bossier City, Louisiana, and $491.95 in Massachusetts, New York and Bellevue, Washington, a 29% spread. Even the top of that range is under $500 before the visit fee.
The rest of the survey is too thin for a state table: outside Banfield, no state has more than two providers that publish a dental price. Within Banfield, the highest prices are in Massachusetts, New York and Washington and the lowest is in Louisiana. The survey is too thin to say whether other clinics follow the same pattern.
The full list of 30 Banfield hospitals, with the price at each, is on the dog teeth cleaning cost survey. For a spay or neuter quote, the same method is in is your spay or neuter quote reasonable?
So, is $500 too much?
$500 is reasonable when it includes full-mouth dental x-rays, covers minor extractions or a higher grade of dental, or is a Banfield price once its visit fee is added. It is worth a second quote when it buys a routine cleaning alone.
Before you decide, ask any second clinic for the same five things in writing: the price of the cleaning for your dog’s weight, whether full-mouth x-rays are included, whether bloodwork is required and included, how extractions are priced, and any exam, consult or visit fee charged on top. Then compare totals, not headline prices. For a cat, the same figures are in our cat teeth cleaning cost survey.
What this page cannot tell you
This is a page about price. It says nothing about whether your dog needs a cleaning, whether anesthesia is right for your dog, or which teeth should come out. Those are questions for your veterinarian. Published prices also change without notice; every figure here was read in October 2026 and is linked to its source on the survey page.
Sources
Every provider named on this page, with the page the price was read from. The full price list is on the survey page, and all 56 prices can be downloaded as a CSV from Downloads. How every price was collected is set out in our editorial policy.
- The Pet Advocate Vet, Tracy, CA (read 1 Oct 2026)
- Pet Dental Clinic, CO (read 1 Oct 2026)
- Quick Fix Veterinary Clinic, MI (read 1 Oct 2026)
- Good Care Animal Clinic, Miami, FL (read 1 Oct 2026)
- Humane Society of Manatee County, Bradenton, FL (read 1 Oct 2026)
- Animal Humane Society, Golden Valley, MN (read 1 Oct 2026)
- Lehigh Valley Humane Society, Allentown, PA (read 1 Oct 2026)
- Low Cost Spay & Neuter Clinic, Brownsburg, IN (read 1 Oct 2026)
- Rocket City Veterinary Hospital, Madison, AL (read 1 Oct 2026)
- Animal House Veterinary Clinic, Nashville, TN (read 1 Oct 2026)
- Humane Society of Utah, St. George Clinic, St. George, UT (read 1 Oct 2026)
- Texas Humane Heroes, Leander, TX (read 1 Oct 2026)
- Banfield Pet Hospital, Bossier City, LA, and 29 other Banfield hospitals listed on the survey page (read 1 Oct 2026)
Prices for everything discussed here are collected and published separately, with a source behind every figure. See dental costs or read how the surveys are run.
Prices vary widely by region, by clinic and by your animal’s individual needs. Use these figures to know what is normal, then ask your own vet for a written estimate before agreeing to treatment. Nothing on this site is medical advice.
