I've just had a quote for a root canal of an upper molar and I'm shocked at the cost. I was referred to an Endontist by my dentist.
He has quoted me $2700 over two appointments for the one molar with 3 roots. This doesn't include any crown I may need to have in addition.
Does this seem normal? Anyone had one recently?
I'm in Canberra and can be quite expensive to have medical treatments with limited choice.
Funnily enough I went to the dentist yesterday and need root canal - the quote I was provided with was $1440 which is 3 visits but just at the regular dentist. Mine is the very back molar so I will be getting it pulled instead as that's just too much money!
I'm pretty sure that mine cost about 1k less but my dentist did it herself rather than referring me to someone else (she's in Deakin). It was over 3 visits (or maybe it was 4) and that included the crown. Perhaps yours is more complex.
Had mine done at around $1500 over two appointments. It was under a crown and quite tricky, one of my front teeth, he even repaired the crown fully. It was by and Endodontist.
I had one done a while back at an endodontist, and it cost a bit more than that, but I think I got my money's worth because it was pretty high-end in terms of complexity, and I was in the chair for several hours (!). I couldn't afford to get the crown done straight away (I had to see a prosthedontist because there wasn't much left of the tooth) so there were quite a few months of being terrified i would break the temporary cover and waste my investment. However if I didn't pay I would have lost the tooth, which would have cost me > a thousand to remove (oral surgeon needed) and several thousand to replace with implant/bridge (because I'd already lost a large tooth and was running out of room to chew).
I agree the choices in Canberra are limited, which can inflate the prices. Plus you need to consider the complexity of what needs to be done vs what other people have had done and paid for (eg, my sister had one done at her usual dentist and paid around $1K). Do you have extras health insurance? You may be able to negotiate to only pay the gap and get the insurance company to pay the endodontist directly.
I have genetically bad teeth, nothing to do with bad care (dentist says this is a fact). I've had 2 pulled out due to needing a root canal because I just could not afford the other option. I am now about to get a mini denture made as they were next to each other (at back). The denture is still way under half the price of 2 root canals. Ideally I would have rathered keep the teeth, but financially it wasn't possible. Had they been visible teeth it would have been different as I am vain!
The other thing to bear on mind is that a root canal + crown is not necessarily permanent - but if you're lucky you could get an extra 10-20 years (or longer) before you lose the tooth. Having a tooth removed has long term issues involved, including cosmetic problems, loss of chewing surface (if other teeth are damaged), misalignment of the jaw (because the height of the tooth line can change), loss of bone density in the jaw (because the pressure of chewing is what stimulates the bone to grow), as well as surrounding teeth becoming crooked. Obviously not all those things will happen to every lost tooth, but as a youngish person it's wise to think about the longer term issues, it might be cheaper to get it out now but it could cost a lot more in the longer term.
A q. Do all teeth that have a root canal need a crown on it??? The dentist that did mine hasn't put a crown on and the tooth next to it that she drilled away almost to my gum she hasn't crowned either??
I'm going for a second opinion as I wasn't happy with what she did
Registered User
Anyone had a root canal recently?
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks