Root canal - fee question

[cat_mioux]

I saw my dentist a couple of months ago because a tooth was horrendously painful. He said I needed a root canal to save the tooth. He put in a temporary filling, said it should last 3-6 months and he'd finish it then. He quoted me $1000.

Today I had to see him because the tooth was playing up. He opened it up and after taking an x-ray he discovered one canal was a little longer than the others so he did what he did (no idea, I had my eyes closed but it did involve pushing spikes, rubber dams and stuff. I was in the chair for ages.

When he finished he said "OK that's stage 2 completed and we'll complete the root canal in a couple of months".

It cost me over $300 today!

Do you think that $300 is included in the $1000 quote?

[**meep**]

---

@cat_mioux wrote:

It's third from the back but I've two back teeth extracted already and if I had this one taken out I'd have 3 missing in a row and have nothing to chew on back there. That's why I'm happy to have a root canal to save the tooth.

My dentist hasn't mentioned a crown. Maybe he thinks I don't need it?

I've already had a RC and crown and it's lasted almost 20 years.

---

You may not need it.   The filling may be sufficient and  you'll probably not need it  for cosmetic reasons because it is your back tooth.

[cat_mioux]

I'm hoping that's the case meep.

But just recently another tooth is becoming sensitive to hot .. I know that's a sign of a root canal waiting to happen. Oh well, it will have to wait until I pay for this one.

Sheesh, I've spent $1700 on my cats teeth this year. Year of the teef!

[cherry*135]

As lyndlal posted, if you want the tooth  (that had the root canal and will be weakened) to last for the long term, you would need to get a crown for it.