Gum Graft Cost UK 2026: NHS and Private Prices Explained

Before you can work out what a gum graft costs, there is a question almost nobody answers first: which graft are you actually being quoted for?

There are two different operations here, and they are not versions of the same thing. One thickens the gum. The other covers the exposed root. They cost different amounts, they leave you with different results, and a great many people pay for the first while expecting the second.

Privately in the UK, expect roughly £600 to £1,300 per site depending on which procedure you need. On the NHS it is a Band 2 charge of £76.60 — and the reason that number is not the end of the story has nothing to do with money.

“Gum graft” is an umbrella term. Under it sit procedures with genuinely different goals, and the distinction decides whether you will be happy with the outcome.

Private fees are usually quoted per site rather than per tooth, because one graft often treats two or three adjacent teeth in a single sitting.

Three things push a quote up. The number of teeth involved is the obvious one. The second is who performs it — a specialist periodontist charges more than a general dentist, and for tunnelling that experience is not a luxury. The third is the groundwork: grafting is not the first thing that happens.

Before any grafting surgery, your gum health and home cleaning have to be excellent. In practice that means hygiene instruction and a course of scaling first, then a review to confirm the gums are healthy enough to proceed.¹ That preparatory work sits outside the graft fee, and it is the most common reason a final bill lands higher than the quote. Our guide to scaling and root planing — the deep clean that comes before any gum surgery explains what that stage actually involves.

This is the section most price guides skip entirely, and it may save you a consultation fee.

• If you smoke. NHS specialist guidance is unambiguous: periodontal surgery is not usually suitable for smokers, because of the effect of smoking on how gums heal.¹ This is not a lecture attached to the treatment — it is a reason clinics decline to operate.
• If plaque control is not yet good enough. Grafting into gums that are still inflamed sets the surgery up to fail. The hygiene phase comes first, and it is not optional.¹
• If the recession is not actually causing a problem. Recession does not always shorten the life of a tooth.¹ Where there is no sensitivity, no difficulty cleaning and no sign of progression, watchful monitoring can be the right answer — and it is free.

Grafting becomes worth considering when the exposed roots are sensitive, when the area is hard or uncomfortable to clean, when the recession is measurably getting worse, or when the appearance genuinely bothers you. If you are still trying to work out why your gums receded in the first place, our article on the causes of receding gums and what can be done about them covers the ground before surgery enters the picture.

Most UK pages describe recovery in a sentence. It deserves more, because the part people are least prepared for is not the gum — it is the roof of the mouth.

On the day. The appointment can run up to three hours depending on how many teeth are treated. You are awake throughout under local anaesthetic and can go home straight afterwards, though it is sensible to arrange a lift and take the day off. No vigorous exercise and no alcohol for 24 hours.¹

The donor site. Where tissue has been taken from the palate, the area heals over on its own — and in the first days it feels much like a burn on the roof of your mouth.¹ A protective dressing pack may be placed over it. Packs feel bulky and can interfere a little with speech and eating, which tempts people to pick at them. Leaving them alone is the single most useful thing you can do.

The first two weeks. Stitches come out one to two weeks later. Until then you do not brush the treated area at all — an antiseptic mouthwash does that job instead. Resist the urge to pull your lip back to inspect the graft: it needs to stay undisturbed to take.¹

Afterwards. Swelling, bruising, bleeding and sensitivity are all recognised and usually settle within weeks. Once healed, excellent daily cleaning is what stops the recession returning — the surgery buys you a better starting point, not immunity.^1,5

A gum graft is not a repair with a predictable end state, and any clinic promising you a specific result before examining you is overselling.

The Cochrane review of root coverage procedures pooled 48 randomised controlled trials and found that a connective tissue graft combined with a coronally advanced flap performs better than the alternatives for reducing recession and gaining tissue.² Better, though, is not the same as complete. Across the published studies, average root coverage sits in the region of 80% to 85% — with complete coverage achieved in a meaningful share of cases, but not all of them.

NHS specialist guidance puts the same point in plainer language: it is not always possible to cover the exposed roots completely, and there is a real risk that the grafted tissue does not heal into place and is lost.¹ How much coverage is realistic depends on the shape of the recession, how much bone and gum remain between the teeth, and how well the area heals.

What that means practically: ask what coverage is realistic for your recession before you agree to anything, and treat a confident guarantee as a warning rather than a reassurance.

In some gum operations — particularly regenerative surgery, where the aim is to encourage lost bone and attachment to rebuild — additional products may be used alongside your own tissue.

NHS specialist guidance names them and is direct about their origin: Emdogain, a protein gel, is derived from pigs, and bone granules such as Bio-Oss or Bone Ceramic may also be of animal origin. The guidance advises patients who would prefer not to have products of animal origin used, for religious or ethical reasons, to raise it with their dentist.¹

Straightforward soft-tissue grafting uses tissue taken from your own palate, so this does not arise in every case. But it is a fair question to ask before surgery rather than after, and any clinic should be able to tell you exactly what is planned for your case. At DentSpa the material is chosen by the treating surgeon according to what the case requires, and it is discussed with you beforehand.

Here is where the £76.60 figure needs context.

NHS Band 2 covers extensive management of gum disease and oral surgery procedures, and costs £76.60 in England for the whole course of treatment however many appointments it takes.³ Gum surgery is listed by the NHS among the treatments available when gum disease is serious.⁴ So the price is not the obstacle.

The obstacle is that grafting is specialist periodontal surgery. Most general dental practices do not carry it out, which means a referral to a hospital or specialist service — and referrals are made on clinical need, not on how much the recession bothers you. Where it is judged cosmetic rather than necessary, NHS funding does not apply and you are back to private fees.

That gap between “technically available at £76.60” and “actually obtainable this year” is the reason so many people end up searching for private prices at all.

Treatment in Turkey costs substantially less than private care in the UK — patients typically save up to 75% against UK private prices, and we set out how those figures work in our guide to dental treatment packages in Turkey and what they include. The difference reflects the cost of running a clinic in Istanbul rather than London, not a difference in what is done.

Gum grafting does need a particular consideration, though, and it is worth being honest about. This is surgery with a two-week healing phase and stitches that need removing, so the timing has to be planned around your trip rather than squeezed into it. That makes it a poor fit for a single quick visit, and a much better one when it is part of a wider treatment plan, when several sites need grafting, or when you are already travelling for other work. For one small area of recession that is not causing problems, the honest answer is that it may not be worth the journey at all.