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**]

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@cat_mioux wrote:

$500! He must have given you a huge discount. lol

This is my second RC, the first was almost 20 years ago. I remember having a crown as well and total cost was around $1500.

I love my dentist but I always get up off the chair feeling exhausted and woozy. Probably anxiety. Well .. of course it is. I like to be able to 'run away' when panic hits and you can't exactly run away with scaffolding and rubber dams in your mouth!

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Same here....Getting off the dentist's chair feels like getting off a scary ride. 

[cherry*135]

I pay about $700 for a root canal. I have never had the actual root canal work on the same tooth done in stages though. They always fill all the canals at the same time and seal it up.

I think the dentist puts a 'post' in for the crown too, under the root  canal fee.

A crown now costs $1700 at the dentist I have been going to for over 10 years. I am going to change dentists next time, the dentist I will change to charges $1200 for a crown and are member providers for my health fund (previous dentist is not).

[rawr*i*r*dinosaur]

I think there are a lot of people on this site who could do with a good root canal

[joz*garage]

lol

[tommy.irene]

I dont have any teeth and i dont miss them..

[belindabargainhunter]

where is the tooth. I needed the very back tooth to have a root canal and after looking into finding they dont last forever etc I had the tooth pulled for $70. 

Because its at the back you can't tell and the funny thing is I think it made a little room as I had this one tooth that annoyed me as it overlaped another one a little. Its now straight. 

[cat_mioux]

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.

[cherry*135]

I think you  do need a crown after a root canal, even if you wait 6mths to get one (more time to save up).

The dentist might be going to break that news to you later! i:e. that you need a crown and how much they cost.

Be good if you don't need one though.

[cherples]

I have found root canal prices to be totally inconsistant, from reasonable to very expensive depending on tooth and dentist.

There seems to be more options these days with finishes, with some dentists offering the choice of acrylic (cheaper and not quite as strong) or porcelain crowns.

[lyndal1838]

I had 2 old crowns (about 35 years old) replaced last November/December and each one cost $1350.00.  It was pretty painless to my bank account though as the health fund covered most of it.

If you have a root canal done you usually end up with a crown...if not immediately then somewhere down the track as the tooth is weakened when the root is gone.  The crown extends the life of the tooth.