The Costs And Profit Of Administering Dermal Filler Treatments

Many dentists are wondering whether to incorporate dermal filler procedures into their dental practice, and are curious whether the profit that stands to be gained will actually compensate for the costs involved in offering these procedures. The answer is pretty straightforward: the profit more than adequately compensates for any costs required to practice dermal fillings, and as a matter of fact, just ten treatments will already cover the $4,900 cost of the formal training required for practicing dermal fillings. As for the continuing costs involved in continually offering these treatments, most of these costs are for the material used as dermal fillers, and for the equipment used to administer them. Any other costs are only with regard to general dental equipment, as well as with regard to accordingly updating the emergency medical kits required by law of dentists.

Costs of Dermal Fillers

The most commonly used material for the administering of dermal fillers is botulinum toxin. The most widely known producer of botulinum toxin is Botox. One Botox unit of botulinum toxin costs $5.65, and as such, a vial containing a hundred units of botulinum toxin would cost $565. A standard dermal filler procedure would require one case of forty to fifty units of botulinum toxin, and if administered appropriately and expertly, would only take around five minutes. Patients would generally pay ten to fifteen dollars for a single unit, and as such, a single treatment would cost anywhere from four hundred to nine hundred dollars. Other producers of botulinum toxin are Dystore and Xeomen, and although Dystore costs the same as Botox, Xeomen costs considerably less, as a single unit costs only $4.35, and a vial containing one hundred units would cost $435.

Botulinum toxin is not the only substance used for dermal fillers, however. Voluma, Belotero Balance, Restylane, and Juvederm Ultra XC all utilize an acid based hyaluronic material, while Radiesse uses a calcium based hydroxyapatite substance. These alternatives are administered through syringes, and a single syringe that contains one ml of dermal filler would cost anywhere between two hundred and ninety five dollars to four hundred dollars per syringe. The patient would generally pay double to triple the cost of the dermal filler, and treatment in this case would generally take only ten to fifteen minutes.

Other Equipment Costs

All other equipment required for the administering of dermal fillers are those that would already be found in all dental practices including gauzes and gloves. Although syringes are also required for botulinum toxin dermal fillers, most botulinum packages already come equipped with a pre-packaged disposable and sterile syringe. If dentists are interested in a more sophisticated and customized syringe, Comfortex syringes are 31-gauged, hold up to .3-.5 ml of material, and only cost twenty four cents per a single syringe.

All in all, other dental equipment required for dermal fillers besides for the fillers themselves would only amount to a few dollars at most.

Emergency Medical Kits

Obviously, dentists must always have an up to date medical kit in accordance to the specific procedures that they are offering, so that they will be prepared in the case of a possible complication. There are basically three additions that should be made before dentists incorporate dermal filler treatments into their general practice. The most obvious and most common complication prone to arise while administering dermal fillers would be bruising, swelling, and bloating as a result of the injected botulinum toxin. As such, dentists should make sure that their emergency medical kit contains an anti-bruising treatment, such as Arnica, which is a homeopathic agent used for anti-bruising. Another complication that may arise, although it is fairly rare, would be the accidental injection of the dermal filler into the blood vessels. As such, nitroglycerin, which comes in the form of ointments and topical creams, should be added to the emergency medical kit. The last important addition to the medical kit would be hyaluronidase, which would be used in the case of an accidental overdose injection of hyaluronic dermal fillers, such as Voluma and Restylane, as well as others mentioned above. The hyaluronidase will effectively break up the unwanted additional dermal filler.

Of course, these additions are all besides the standard emergency medical kits that dentists are required to have. And to ensure that there is always an appropriate response available in case of any complication, dentists should sign themselves up for an auto-renewal plan, so that they always have the latest and up to date medical equipment in their emergency medical kits.

All in all, integrating dermal filler treatments into one’s dental practice is a extremely wise investment, and will certainly pay itself off financially.

Sign up here for our Dermal Fillers Training Program