Low-Cost Dental Care in St. Louis

Dental work is one of the easiest bills to put off and one of the most expensive to ignore. St. Louis has real low-cost options: sliding-scale community clinics and two teaching clinics where supervised students and residents treat patients for much less.

Community dental clinics (sliding scale)

These clinics charge based on your income and accept patients without insurance:

Affinia Healthcare — Ferguson3396 Pershall Rd., Ferguson, MO 63135 · (314) 814-8700General dentistry on a sliding scale — the closest option for most North County renters. Affinia also offers dental at 1717 Biddle St. and 4414 N. Florissant Ave. in the city.

CareSTL Health5471 Dr. Martin Luther King Dr., St. Louis, MO 63112 · (314) 367-5820Dental services alongside primary care.

Family Care Health CentersSouth city — Carondelet (314) 353-5190, Dutchtown (314) 834-2273Sliding-scale dental for adults and children.

St. Louis County DPH — John C. Murphy Health Center6121 N. Hanley Rd., Berkeley, MO 63134 · (314) 615-0560Dental at this county location is for children and teens (ages 3–18) and pregnant women: exams, cleanings, fillings, extractions, and more. Adults should use the community clinics above or the teaching clinics below.

Teaching clinics: bigger work for less

St. Louis Dental Center1500 Park Ave., St. Louis, MO 63104 · (314) 833-2758A partnership between Affinia Healthcare and A.T. Still University's dental school. Dental students treat patients under the supervision of licensed dentists, at reduced cost with sliding-scale pricing. Appointments take longer than a private office, but the price difference is real.

Dental Specialties of Saint Louis University3320 Rutger St., St. Louis, MO 63104 · (314) 977-8600SLU's resident dentists handle specialty work — braces, root canals, gum treatment and implants, and pediatric dentistry for kids under 12 — at lower cost than private specialists. Orthodontics offers a free screening after online registration; root canal and gum patients generally need a referral from a dentist.

How to keep the bill down

Start with an exam and cleaning at a sliding-scale clinic — catching a small cavity early is the cheapest dental care there is.
Ask for the price before treatment. Every clinic on this page will tell you the cost up front if you ask.
Medicaid (MO HealthNet) covers adult dental in Missouri — if you qualify for Medicaid, the community clinics above accept it.
Emergencies: for severe pain or swelling, call a community clinic first thing in the morning and ask about same-day emergency slots — it beats an ER bill, and the ER cannot fix teeth anyway.

Heads up: we verified the details on this page in July 2026, but hours, fees, and policies change. Call before you go.