How Much Does a Dental Crown Actually Cost in 2026?

If you've been quoted anywhere between £400 and £1,800 for a dental crown — or a dental cap, if that's the word your dentist used — you're not imagining things. That's genuinely how wide the range is across the UK. The problem is, nobody tells you why your quote landed where it did. Material, lab work, whether you need a root canal first, even which postcode the practice sits in — it all moves the number.

Quick answer: costs for dental crowns in the UK typically run £400–£800 privately for metal or porcelain-fused-to-metal, and £600–£1,200 for zirconia or Emax. At Robinhood Dental Practice, the cost of a dental crown is fixed — £495 for Metal, £595 for PFM, and £695 for Zirconia/Emax — no vague range, just the exact figure per material.

We're Robinhood Dental Practice on Stratford Road in Hall Green, Birmingham, and we'd rather just show you our actual prices than send you off with another vague range. Below is exactly what we charge per crown type, what's included in that fee, how it compares to NHS pricing, and what to expect from the day you walk in to the day the crown is fitted.

Quick Answer — Dental Crown Cost at a Glance (Birmingham 2026)

Here are the types of dental crowns we fit and the cost of each, so you know exactly what you're choosing between before your exam:

These are per-tooth prices for a standard crown placement. If your tooth needs a root canal first (£395–£595 depending on tooth type) or has significant decay requiring a core build-up, that's costed separately — we'll walk you through it at your assessment rather than bundling it into a headline figure that doesn't apply to your case.

Dental Crown vs Dental Cap: Is There a Difference?

No — "cap" is just the everyday word for the same treatment. Dentists tend to say "crown"; patients often say "cap." Whichever word you search for or ask us about, the tooth cap cost and the dental crown cost refer to the exact same procedure and the exact same prices above.

What's Actually Included in the Price

A crown quote that only lists one number tends to hide a few extra appointments. Here's what sits underneath ours:

• New Patient Examination — £25. Your dentist checks the tooth, gums, and bite before anything is planned.
• X-Ray — £10. Needed to see the tooth root and confirm a crown (rather than a filling or extraction) is the right call.
• Tooth preparation and impressions. The tooth is shaped down and either scanned or moulded so the lab can build a crown that actually fits your bite.
• Temporary crown. Fitted while your permanent one is being made, so you're not walking around with a bare tooth for two to three weeks.
• Lab fabrication and final fitting. The crown itself is made off-site by a dental lab, then checked, adjusted, and cemented in at your fitting appointment.

None of this is unusual — but it's rarely spelled out, which is how a "£495 crown" quietly becomes £600+ once the exam, X-ray, and any extra work get added at the desk.

What Changes the Price of a Dental Crown

Material is the biggest factor, but it's not the only one. A few things worth knowing before you book anywhere:

Material

Metal crowns are the least expensive because there's no cosmetic layering involved — the trade-off is they're silver-coloured, which is why they're usually reserved for molars nobody sees. PFM sits in the middle: a metal base with a porcelain layer over it, so it looks more like a tooth but costs a bit more to produce. Zirconia and Emax are milled or pressed from a single ceramic block, which is both stronger and more translucent than PFM — that's why they're the go-to for front teeth and the priciest of the three.

Root canal or core build-up

If the tooth underneath is badly broken down or infected, it may need a root canal (£395–£595) or a core build-up before a crown can even be fitted. This is the single biggest reason two people with "a crown" end up paying very different totals.

Location

Central London clinics routinely run 20–30% above regional pricing purely on overheads. A crown priced at £995 in South Kensington and £495 in Hall Green isn't a different standard of care — it's a different postcode. If you've been comparing the dental crown cost in London against ours, that gap is the reason why.

Number of crowns

If you need crowns on several teeth (common after an accident or with severe wear), most practices — us included — will talk through a treatment plan rather than pricing each tooth in isolation, since prep and lab work can sometimes be batched.

NHS vs Private Crown Cost

Crowns fall under NHS Band 3 treatment in England, which is a flat fee covering everything in that band — not just the crown. You can check the current bands directly on the NHS website or the Oral Health Foundation.

On paper, £332.10 looks cheaper than any of our private options. In practice, NHS crowns come with real limits: material choice is restricted (often metal or a basic ceramic, not zirconia or Emax), waiting lists in Birmingham can run long, and you don't get to choose your dentist or appointment slots the same way. Private crowns cost more but give you material choice, shorter waits, and — in our case — a dentist with 20+ years of experience handling the case from first exam to final fit.

Crown Material Comparison

The Crown Procedure: Step by Step

1. New Patient Examination. Your dentist assesses the tooth and confirms a crown is the right treatment, not a filling, veneer, or extraction.
2. X-ray. Confirms the root and surrounding bone are healthy enough to support a crown.
3. Tooth preparation. The tooth is numbed and reshaped to make room for the crown material.
4. Impression or scan. Sent to the dental lab so your crown is built to the exact shape of your bite.
5. Temporary crown fitted. Protects the prepared tooth while the permanent one is made, usually over two to three weeks.
6. Final fitting. The permanent crown is checked for fit and colour match, adjusted if needed, and cemented into place.

Aftercare: Making a Crown Last

• Avoid very hard or sticky foods for the first 24 hours after fitting, especially on the crowned side.
• Brush and floss around the crown exactly as you would a natural tooth — the crown itself can't decay, but the tooth underneath and the gum line still can.
• Don't use your teeth to open packaging or bite fingernails — this is the most common cause of a cracked or dislodged crown we see.
• Keep up with six-monthly check-ups so any movement or wear is caught early rather than after a crown fails.
• If a crown ever comes loose, cracks, or falls out entirely, that counts as a dental emergency — see our emergency dentist Birmingham guide for what to do next.

Crown or Something Else?

If you're weighing a crown against a veneer, the honest test is structural: veneers sit on top of a tooth that's still fundamentally sound, while a crown replaces most of the visible tooth because there isn't enough healthy structure left to bond a veneer to safely.

Frequently Asked Questions