Data read September 28, 2026
The state-by-state table answers one question per state. Read across all 51 rules at once, the conditions are the story: 39 programs cover adult dentures, but 24 of the 51 attach prior authorization or approval, 15 state how many years must pass before they pay again, 10 put a dollar figure in the rule, and 4 use the word “lifetime” (one denture per arch for life in Pennsylvania; one lost pair, one immediate denture or one replacement per lifetime elsewhere). This page is those patterns, computed from the same rows.
The three verdicts
76% of programs cover adult dentures outright. The 7 that do not (Alabama, Arizona, Maryland, Mississippi, New Mexico, Texas, Wyoming) mostly run emergency-only adult benefits; the 5 limited programs (Delaware, Missouri, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Vermont) cover a narrow group or repairs only.
How often a program pays again
15 of the 44 covering programs state a replacement interval in the rule we read. Five years is the most common; Louisiana, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon stretch to eight or ten. Connecticut and Hawaii also state a reline interval (2 yrs). Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Pennsylvania write “lifetime” into the rule somewhere: Pennsylvania for the denture itself (one per arch, with an exception process for more), the others for a lost pair, an immediate denture or a replacement. The replacement timeline checker sets a denture’s age against these intervals.
Caps, fees and prior authorization
10 rules carry a dollar figure. Some are caps on the whole adult dental benefit that dentures fall under or are exempt from; some are the benefit itself. In the rule’s own summary:
| State | What the rule says |
|---|---|
| Alaska | Dentures covered under the adult enhanced dental benefit, capped at $1,150 per state fiscal year (July 1-June 30); |
| Arizona | General adult (21+) dental benefit is emergency-only, up to $1,000 per contract year, and the AHCCCS medical policy manual states dentures are not covered; |
| Arkansas | adult dental services otherwise limited to $500 per state fiscal year (benefit-limit screen in the same deck). |
| Colorado | adults have a $3,000 yearly (July 1-June 30) limit but emergency services and dentures do not count toward it; |
| Delaware | $1,000/calendar year plus up to $1,500 extended emergency benefit with prior authorization, $3 co-pay per visit) covers denture repairs, relines and replacement of broken denture parts, but new complete or partial denture fabrication codes are not on the adult covered-code list, so new dentures are not a listed benefit. |
| South Carolina | The general adult (21+) benefit is diagnostic, preventive, restorative, extractions and adjunctive services capped at $1,000 per state fiscal year - removable prosthodontics is NOT in that list, so dentures are not covered for typical adults. |
| South Dakota | dentures and partials are exempt from the $2,000/year (July 1-June 30) adult dental cap |
| Texas | Exceptions: Medicaid residents of ICF-IID facilities 21+ get dental, and the STAR+PLUS HCBS waiver covers dentures up to a $5,000/ISP-year cap for waiver members |
| Vermont | General adult dental is otherwise capped at $1,500 per calendar year |
| West Virginia | Dentures are included in the expanded adult dental benefit (effective 2/1/2021) but count against the $1,000-per-calendar-year adult dental cap, so a denture can exhaust most of the year's benefit; |
Prior authorization or approval is mentioned in 24 rules (47%). In practice that means the dentist submits the case before the program agrees to pay, which is where the replacement interval and any medical-necessity test get applied.
Every program on one table
| State | Adult dentures | Interval stated | Prior authorization | Dollar figure in the rule |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | No | not stated | not mentioned | none |
| Alaska | Yes | not stated | mentioned | $1,150 |
| Arizona | No | not stated | not mentioned | $1,000 |
| Arkansas | Yes | not stated | mentioned | $500 |
| California | Yes | not stated | not mentioned | none |
| Colorado | Yes | not stated | not mentioned | $3,000 |
| Connecticut | Yes | 7 yrs; relines 2 yrs | mentioned | none |
| Delaware | Limited | not stated | mentioned | $1,000, $1,500, $3 |
| District of Columbia | Yes | 5 yrs | not mentioned | none |
| Florida | Yes | not stated | not mentioned | none |
| Georgia | Yes | not stated | mentioned | none |
| Hawaii | Yes | 5 yrs; relines 2 yrs | mentioned | none |
| Idaho | Yes | not stated | not mentioned | none |
| Illinois | Yes | not stated | mentioned | none |
| Indiana | Yes | 6 yrs | mentioned | none |
| Iowa | Yes | 5 yrs | not mentioned | none |
| Kansas | Yes | not stated | not mentioned | none |
| Kentucky | Yes | not stated | mentioned | none |
| Louisiana | Yes | 8 yrs | not mentioned | none |
| Maine | Yes | not stated | not mentioned | none |
| Maryland | No | not stated | not mentioned | none |
| Massachusetts | Yes | 7 yrs | mentioned | none |
| Michigan | Yes | not stated | not mentioned | none |
| Minnesota | Yes | not stated | mentioned | none |
| Mississippi | No | not stated | mentioned | none |
| Missouri | Limited | not stated | mentioned | none |
| Montana | Yes | complete 10 yrs, partial 5 yrs | not mentioned | $1205 |
| Nebraska | Yes | per lifetime | mentioned | $750 |
| Nevada | Yes | 5 yrs | mentioned | none |
| New Hampshire | Limited | not stated | not mentioned | $1500 |
| New Jersey | Yes | not stated | mentioned | none |
| New Mexico | No | not stated | not mentioned | none |
| New York | Yes | not stated | mentioned | none |
| North Carolina | Yes | complete 10 yrs, partial 8 yrs | mentioned | none |
| North Dakota | Yes | 7 yrs | mentioned | none |
| Ohio | Yes | 8 yrs | mentioned | none |
| Oklahoma | Yes | not stated | mentioned | none |
| Oregon | Yes | complete 10 yrs, partial 5 yrs | not mentioned | none |
| Pennsylvania | Yes | per lifetime | not mentioned | none |
| Rhode Island | Yes | not stated | not mentioned | none |
| South Carolina | Limited | not stated | not mentioned | $1,000 |
| South Dakota | Yes | 5 yrs | not mentioned | $2,000 |
| Tennessee | Yes | not stated | not mentioned | none |
| Texas | No | not stated | not mentioned | $5,000 |
| Utah | Yes | not stated | mentioned | none |
| Vermont | Limited | 5 yrs | not mentioned | $1,500 |
| Virginia | Yes | not stated | not mentioned | none |
| Washington | Yes | not stated | mentioned | none |
| West Virginia | Yes | not stated | not mentioned | $1,000 |
| Wisconsin | Yes | 5 yrs | mentioned | none |
| Wyoming | No | not stated | not mentioned | none |
How this page is made
This page is generated from the same data table its reference page carries, on every rebuild, so it can never disagree with the table. Read it with the caveats of the source data: published prices are starting figures at the office that published them; program rules are summaries of what we read on a stated date and the program’s page controls; register counts are registrations, not availability. If a figure is wrong, tell us.
More insights and the reference behind this one
Medicaid, state by state
The reference page this insight is computed from, with every figure sourced and dated.
Published denture prices: the whole table, read across
The per-arch spread, the unpublished items, and published prices against the averages.
Where the denture specialists are: register density by city and state
Specialists per 100 registered practices across 245 cities in 50 states and DC.