Walking through downtown Tehran, I notice peculiar advertisements pasted onto walls: dental services and dental implants available on 12-month instalment plans. Another advertisement, circulating online and on social media, extends the repayment period to 14 months.
In northern Tehran, however, in the affluent neighbourhoods not far from the Swiss and Danish embassies, where luxury restaurants and shopping malls abound, rows of gleaming white teeth have become another status symbol for Iran’s newly rich. Like imported Mercedes-Benz and Volvo cars, these teeth send a message to others: I am wealthy in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
To understand the economics of the dental business, I ask a prosperous 70-year-old man who runs several fish farms in Shahriar, west of Tehran, how much he paid for implants in both jaws.
Displaying his gleaming white teeth, he explains:
“For the specialist implant treatment I underwent, I consulted an oral and maxillofacial surgeon and had the necessary X-rays taken. A periodontist then prescribed the subsequent stages of treatment. Both specialists were involved in placing the implants. I subsequently consulted a prosthodontist to have the crowns fitted onto them.
“At every stage of the treatment, I paid whatever amount I was billed. The implant work was finally completed just last month. By the time the entire process was finished, I had spent more than two billion tomans in total – approximately $7,547 or £5,797.”
The amount the fish-farm owner paid for his dazzling smile sets me thinking. Anyone willing to spend so much on dental implants must surely be able to afford a penthouse in one of northern Tehran’s wealthiest neighbourhoods. I cannot help wondering what kind of luxury car he drives in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
When Saving a Tooth Becomes a Luxury
To find out how ordinary Iranians look after their teeth as inflation surges and prices skyrocket, I speak to a general dentist who has been providing dental services for more than 20 years but does not hold a specialist qualification.
He appears to be struggling to contain his frustration.
“These days, I see an average of just four patients a week,” he tells me. “Some of them cannot afford to pay for their dental treatment in one go.
“‘I’ll settle the bill at the end of the month,’ they say. Then you never see the patient again.
“Someone gives you a cheque for 10 million tomans but never registers it. They promise to settle the bill over three months. They pay the first instalment. Then, when the second month comes, it’s one excuse after another.
“‘I forgot. I paid you, but you didn’t write it down.’
“‘My tooth still hurts, so I’m not paying.’
“‘You’ve charged me far too much, so I’m not paying.’
“‘I didn’t pay because you didn’t use good-quality materials.’
“And so it goes. These are the excuses you hear for every kind of dental treatment patients ask for, from extractions, scaling and root canal treatment to dentures.”
The consequences of this financial pressure become clearer when I speak to my 21-year-old barber.
“Last week, I had to choose between having a decayed tooth in my lower jaw extracted and paying for scaling and root canal treatment. You know what? I decided to have the tooth pulled for two million tomans — about $7.55 or £5.80 – because scaling and root canal treatment would have cost me four times as much.”
For him, the decision was not simply about dental treatment. It was about what he could afford.
Mahallat: Iran’s Denture-Making Hub
The town of Mahallat, in Markazi Province in central Iran, south-east of Qom, is known as a hub for denture-making. According to one of my sources, a group of people there has built up what amounts to a mafia-like operation, one that even the Ministry of Health appears unable to bring under control. They can make dentures in a single day.
I ask a local source: “To what extent are disinfection and hygiene standards observed in dental practices in Mahallat?”
“We have no idea,” comes the reply. “No independent scientific study has been conducted into the transmission of infectious diseases following the fitting of dentures.”
The absence of independent research leaves an important question unanswered: what are the risks to patients when dentures are produced and fitted so quickly, and how consistently are hygiene standards enforced?
Through a contact in the marble trade – a longstanding industry in Mahallat, thanks to the town’s numerous quarries – I obtain the telephone number of a well-known denture-maker.
“All the materials we use to make dentures are sourced in Iran,” he tells me. “Anyone who claims to use materials imported from Japan, Germany or elsewhere is simply lying.”
He says a pair of dentures costs between eight million and 28 million tomans, equivalent to approximately $30–106 or £23–81.
The Price of an Implant
The costs rise sharply when patients seek specialist treatment.
A dentist tells me:
“My professor at the University of Tehran charges 40 million tomans – about $151 or £116 – to insert the implant screw. He then refers the patient to a prosthodontist, a specialist in dental prosthetics, who charges another 40 million tomans for the crown.
“That means a standard implant performed by specialists costs 80 million tomans – about $302 or £232 – for a single tooth. If you want top-quality materials and workmanship, double that figure.”
I then ask an implant specialist about dental implant schemes offering instalment plans over 12 or 14 months, with patients paying each instalment by post-dated cheque.
He runs a practice in an affluent neighbourhood in northern Tehran. He tells me:
“Several large dental clinic chains in Tehran have been established by wealthy investors who employ dentists from different specialities. They run up unnecessary charges for patients, recommending procedures that are not medically necessary, while inflating the price of implants. Patients paying in instalments often fail to realise how much they are being overcharged.
“It is a form of fraud against affluent patients who can afford to pay for implants and do not have to resort to dentures.”
His account suggests that the financial pressures surrounding dental care extend beyond those who cannot afford treatment. Even relatively wealthy patients may be vulnerable to inflated bills, particularly when the cost is spread over many months and the true total becomes less immediately apparent.
I obtained the following prices from another dental implant specialist, who is also an oral and maxillofacial surgeon.
Cost per Implant Unit
Implant brand and country of origin
Price in tomans (US dollars / British pounds)
Iranian (KMF)
16 million tomans ($60.38 / £47.06)
South Korean (Megagen)
24 million tomans ($90.57 / £70.59)
German (Bio-3)
38 million tomans ($143.40 / £111.76)
Swiss (Straumann)
68 million tomans ($256.60 / £200.00)
These prices cover the implant unit only and do not include the crown – the artificial tooth fitted on top of the implant.
The surgeon explained that he does not fit the crowns himself. Instead, he refers patients to a prosthodontist, a specialist in restoring and replacing teeth. The fee for the crown is generally within a similar price range, regardless of the implant brand selected.
The quoted prices also exclude additional procedures and materials that may be necessary, such as bone grafting or a sinus lift.
The final cost of replacing a tooth with an implant will therefore depend on the crown fee and whether any supplementary procedures are required. The price of the implant alone does not reflect the total cost of treatment.
In Tehran, a bright, even smile can signal wealth and social standing. But for many ordinary Iranians, the choice is much more basic: how to pay for treatment, whether to save a damaged tooth or whether to have it extracted because nothing more expensive is within reach.
In a country where economic hardship has made even routine healthcare a financial burden, the gap between a luxury smile and affordable dental treatment reveals another divide between the rich and the poor.