Survey findings on dental fees. A comparison from 1982-93

The cost of health care services, including dental services, continues to rise at a rate higher than the prices of all goods and services included in the CPI for urban consumers. Increases for physician services, medical care and hospital room rates exceed those for dental care. Dentists generally do not raise their fees across-the-board, but vary increases from procedure to procedure. Increases for certain common dental procedures and services were close to the CPI for consumer goods and services. Fees for such basic preventive and diagnostic procedures--including oral exams, prophylaxes and X-rays--increased at rates well below the overall CPI for dental services.