Collecting several dozen clinic price pages for the same procedure teaches one lesson quickly: the figures are rarely describing the same thing.
The four ways prices stop being comparable
The unit differs. Veneers and crowns are usually per tooth, implants per implant, full-arch work per arch. A page that quotes “from £2,400” without a unit could be describing either one tooth or twenty. Every record in our dataset stores its unit, and pages never mix units in one table.
The bundle differs. One figure is treatment alone, another includes the crown on top of the implant, a third includes hotel and transfers. See what a package includes.
The currency and the rate differ. Clinics quote in euros, sterling and dollars, often all three on the same site, at internally chosen rates that lag the market. Two pages quoting “the same” price in different currencies can be several per cent apart. We store the source currency and convert at a single dated rate table so the conversion is at least consistent and visible.
The qualifier differs. “From”, “starting at”, “average”, and prices that apply only to a package of ten or more units. A “from” price is the cheapest case the clinic will accept, which is by construction not the typical case.
What we do about it
Every record stores procedure, variant, unit, currency, inclusions, exclusions, source and date. Records are only pooled into a median when they share a procedure, a variant and a unit. Patient-reported figures are shown but never enter a median. Where a clinic publishes a band we store both ends rather than a midpoint.
That is why the ranges here are wider than the ranges on marketing pages. The width is real; hiding it would make the number more comforting and less true.
What to do with a quote you have been given
- Convert it to a per-unit price
- Write down what it includes and what it excludes
- Note the currency it will actually be invoiced in
- Then place it against the observed range for that procedure and country
If it sits below the range, ask what is not in it. If it sits above, ask what is. Either way the question is about composition, not about the number.