The Truth About Dental Pricing, Based on Data from 400+ Dentists in Colombia

We have spent the last 12 months building a platform called The HealthyTreatment, and in the process, we have manually onboarded over 400 dentists in Colombia.

When you look at the raw data across 400 clinics, you start to see patterns that the average patient never sees. The dental industry isn’t just “expensive”—it’s a Wild West of inconsistent pricing, “hidden taxes,” and massive markups based purely on your zip code.

The “Transparency Report” (What the data says):

➤ The 300% Difference: Price gaps of over 300% for the same treatment in the same city. A zirconia crown quoted at $600 in one clinic — $1,800 just three blocks away. Often, the only difference is branding and lobby aesthetics.

➤ The “Hidden Fee” Trap: Around 65% of initial quotes are incomplete. Extra costs like $150 consultations, $200 3D X-rays, or $300 lab fees suddenly appear — turning a $1,000 implant into $1,800.

➤ Material Arbitrage: Many budget clinics charge zirconia-level prices while still using PFM (porcelain-fused-to-metal). Without transparency, patients can’t verify what material is actually being used.

➤ The Insurance Cap Paradox: Most dental insurance plans still cap at $1,500–$2,000 annually — nearly unchanged since the 1980s — while implant costs have tripled. The system supports maintenance, not true restoration.

Why We Built The Healthy Treatment?

We have seen this happen so often, where people just go to Facebook groups and ask, “Cheap dentist near me?” and then they get 50 totally different answers, but still no price quotes at all, that I decided to do something about ‍‌‍‍‌it.

I decided to stop the “manual” search and build a data-driven hub. We resolved the biggest pain points:

➤ Direct Quotes: No more “call for pricing.”

➤ Verified Reviews: Moving reviews from scattered FB threads to one trusted spot.

➤ Apples-to-Apples Comparison: Clear view of materials and inclusions.

Our Value Proposition

The‍‌‍‍‌ Healthy Treatment platform is more than just dentists directory. We guarantee full price transparency, so you get to see independently verified treatment prices upfront without any surprise charges. Besides, you are able to create a personal profile, shortlist your favourite dentists, and keep a record of the reviews, which is all done in one place. This facilitates comparing the options, keeping track of your experiences, and picking the dentist who meets your requirements the ‍‌‍‍‌most.

What we have learned: The “unsexy” part of health tech isn’t the AI or the fancy UI; it’s the data cleaning. The industry is “broken” because the data is gated behind phone calls and office managers. Once you open the gates and expose 400 pieces side by side, the market will eventually correct itself.

I’m more than willing to answer any questions about the dental market with you, or tell you the huge price discrepancies that I found, or even how we got 400 dentists to agree on price transparency!

Conclusion

The‍‌‍‍‌ analysis of price data from hundreds of dental clinics reveals a widespread problem of a lack of standardization and the invisibility of dental care costs. We see major differences in prices for the same treatment, mostly due to the fact that patients pay according to the place and how the treatment is presented, instead of getting the real clinical value out of it. It is impossible to make wise choices without clear and comparable information.

Data-level transparency improvement is the key to allowing fair comparisons, bringing back the consumer’s trust, and leading to more uniform pricing across the dental sector. Healthy Treatment is a fresh approach aimed at bringing much-needed clarity to an industry that has been without it for too ‍‌‍‍‌long.

Frequently Asked Questions