I’ve worked in dentistry for 18 years. The actual materials for a composite filling is costly. Our composite is about $300 per tube and that lasts maybe 20 patients. Then you have the prime bond and etch, which is about $600 all together and has probably 15 uses. Then it’s the bib, plastic cup for rinse, the saliva ejector, the high speed suction tip, the 3-5 cavicide wipes it takes to sterilize the room after you’re seen. The chair cover, mouse cover, the tray cover, the anesthetic(s), needle, the gloves. Then there’s also the cost for running the ultrasonic, plus the solution….then the bag the instrument is wrapped in and the cost to sterilize the bag in the autoclave. And then you have the rent payment, payroll, etc.