A root canal is never any fun. Except, maybe for the dentist, who makes a good living charging a lot of money to clear out infected pulp from the canal at the root of your tooth.
While root canals have a reputation of being horrendously painful, the treatment itself is not supposed to be any worse than getting a filling, The real horror might be paying to have it done.
How much you are charged for a root canal will vary greatly depending on several factors.
The molars at the back of your mouth have more roots than your front teeth and are harder to get to, making them more expensive.
If your dentist feels the procedure is too complicated he may refer you to an endodontist who could charge as much as 50% more to make up for her additional 2 years of dental school to learn how to do it better.
If the dentist or endodontist has a fancy office in a high rent district will you can expect to pay extra for that too.
After the canal is cleaned out, if the hole drilled to access the inside of the tooth can be sealed easily, you could get away paying as little as $400 to $500. If you do, you should consider yourself very lucky, as this would be considered a bargain for a root canal.
It is quite common, however, to need the top of the tooth replaced with a crown which will add several hundred more to the costs.
With a root canal and crown you could easily have total charges in the $1500 to $2000 range. Even then, that could be cheap. Multiple complications can double can lead to several thousands in dental bills.
Source by James Archer
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