My dentist tells me I need a root canal and sends me to a dentist who does only root canals-- so I guess we can call him a specialist.
The specialist breaks it down into 3 visits, probably to make it seem like I’m getting more for the price? Three visits were not necessary. Dentists used to do it all in one visit!
The specialist performs the root canal but doesn’t put a final filing. He puts a temporary filling and tells me I have to go back to the original dentist to get the final filing. He charges me 1400.00 for his work. Makes me sign a form to make sure I pay. Onto the credit card it goes and deeper in debt. He knows that I cannot afford it but gave me no option but to pull the tooth. No payment plans. Nothing. No mercy. It’s a front tooth and can’t pull it.
I go back to my regular dentist who does the filling for an additional 150.00 and tries to get me to buy a crown for an additional 1000.00.
The specialist works only two days a week. My regular dentist works only 4 days a week.
My question is this: am I being ripped off? I’ve called the ADA. They won’t comment and sent me to the Massachusetts Dental Society. Mass Dental won’t answer either and sent me to the three top dental schools. They won’t answer either.
What I’d really like to know is this: materials alone, what does it cost the dentist to do a root canal. Keep in mind, if a special machine is needed to do it, break it down on a per-customer or per-session cost. Don’t factor in x-rays cause they were not part of the price. For example, if a special machine cost the dentist 30 grand, obviously you cannot add the 30,000 to the final cost of a root canal. But maybe it’s a buck a patient over so many hundred thousand uses, etc. And I understand this can only be a ball park figure but try to get it accurate within 100.00. If adding education into the final cost, remember, 1400.00 per root canal times how many teeth in a mouth, times how many clients, etc.
By the way, the alternative to a root canal or getting it pulled is to put an implant and that’s roughly 5,000 a pop!
There are a lot of people out there who cannot afford to get teeth fixed and thanks to capitalism in dentistry, will go toothless and their health will be affected by it (in many cases). So how much does it really cost? Is it greed or are the costs legit? What’s the profit margin?
I just paid $1175 for a root canal at a specialist and it was 1 visit. Best way to avoid them is take care of your teeth. I did not take care of mine in the past and I have a bunch of crowns and 3 root canals. Toothpaste and toothbrushes are much cheaper than dental work. I learned the hard way.
I am going through exactly the same thing. The guy who does the root canal is an endodontist and mine was brilliant. He also put in a temporary and because I did not want to go my original dentist for the crown, got referred to a new dentist for that portion of the visit.
The new dentist took a mould of my mouth for the permanent crown and, after removing the temp filling that the endodontist put in, has put a “fake crown” on until the permanent is back from the lab. Currently, the fake crown is causing horrendous pain, but it is in for only one more week.
The original dentist visit was $280. The endodontist was just under $1k. The new crown will be $1,200.
The last root canal I had in 2003 cost me $1,200. The crown was $575 and the remainder was the dentist bill.
I have a friend who knows someone who makes the actual crowns. He got his crown at cost for $125.00 (Porcelain) so the mark up on the crown is a lot
The problem with a root canal is they aren’t guaranteed. I had one root canal fail after a year. More than a grand is a lot to pay for a year’s work. I have 5 root canals that have lasted over 10 years though.
The other thing to remember is porcelain is much harder than natural teeth. So if it’s a crown on a tooth that meshes with a natural tooth, that natural tooth will wear down a lot faster.
Gold crowns are better as they are easier on natural teeth.
In Chicago $1,500 is standard for a root canal. I went to the University of Illinois Dental school and they wanted to charge me $1,200 for a root canal (it would take an estimate EIGHT MONTHS). I mean EIGHT MONTHS to save $300.
I just pulled the tooth which was free. It’s a way back tooth no one can see anyway. Not a good choice but I was broke and it hurt.
My problem was I got injured and a lot of teeth got messed up at once. Unless you get them all fixed, teeth shift and make everything worse.
Once you hit a certain age you really need to look at the cost of dental work verus quality of life and how long the work will last.
I mean two root canals will run you $3,000 and that’s a downpayment on a lot of things. Especially if you’re gonna wind up in dentures in ten years.
Yep. And said expertise came from years of (expensive!) education and training. And then there’s the specialized (read expensive!) equipment, and overhead which includes rent, utilities, and of course insurance – which ain’t cheap. In other words, in order to be able to drill out the tooth’s root canal and put fifty (?) bucks worth of stuff into it in an hour’s time, the endodontist has invested many years and many tens of thousands of dollars to have that capability. Time and materials in actually doing the job doesn’t begin to scratch the surface of what it costs.
Dentists will provide quotes, you know. You don’t necessarily have to go where your dentist tells you to go. All general practicing dentists are capable of performing the most common root canals. The fact that you were referred to an endodontist means that there was something difficult about your case. Think about it: your dentist could have done the job himself and made a few extra bucks instead of sending you to a specialist.
Do seriously consider the crown now that you’ve had the root canal. I mean, you do know what a root canal is, right? Your tooth is now dead, fragile, and if you don’t protect it with a crown, you’ll end up paying for an implant (or one of those God-awful bridges).
So how much does a root canal cost a dentist or even a good endodontist? Less than a hundred bucks. There’s the anethesia, his assistant’s time, a little bit of guttapercha, and some resin seal. But you’re paying a small slice of his education, insurance, and capital equipment, and that’s all friggin’ expensive, too. It costs so little in out of pocket costs, though, that one my wife’s friends gave her an emergency root canal completely free of charge.
Disclaimer: my wife is a dentist, and most of our mutual friends are dentists and dental specialists and ADM bigwigs.
The average dentist has somewhere around $130,000 in student loans after graduation. It’ll cost them in the ballpark of half a million dollars to set up a private practice, which includes the cost of real estate, setting up an office, and buying dental equipment. And then there’s the overhead, which other posters have gone in to.
Now, after all of this your average dentist makes around $160,000 a year which is certainly a very comfortable income. But even if they only earned $75,000 (or whatever you consider “reasonable”) the costs of dental procedures wouldn’t be much lower. It’d take an accountant with detailed information about a specific practice to tell you how much of the cost of a procedure goes to the dentist’s personal salary – my WAG is somewhere around 10%. The rest goes to pay off the fixed costs while still covering the overhead. That includes salaries for several dental assistants, hygienists, and receptionists, on top of all the other necessary maintenance and utility costs.
Most regular dentists do not like to drill through a crown so that’s why I went to the endodontist for my root canal. My dentist only does root canals on front teeth, for molars she sends me to the endo guy.
While we’re talking about this, why does dental insurance not work like medical insurance does?
If I have an office visit with my doctor, it’s XX dollars co-pay from me. I know what I’m going to pay before I go. If I go to my dentist, they want to charge me for each and every thing they do, despite the fact that I have dental insurance. When I mention my dental insurance to the dentist, they say, “well, we’re giving you a discount”. Despite the insurance, I am still being quoted the same general prices being discussed here for root canal, crown, implant, etc.
The insurance company said it’s my responsibility to check with the dentist beforehand; that ain’t their responsibility. What kind of crap is that? What good is dental insurance?
So… you already had a root canal? And they didn’t get out all of the mass? And so you needed another root canal on the same tooth? (Or do you already how a crown on that tooth for a less common reason?) You only ever need a second root canal if they screwed up the first one (on the same tooth).
Are you sure that your dentist is one that works with your plan? My US dental insurance works exactly like my medical insurance, except for certain “premium” services, like ceramic material for a crown, or some stupid UV light cancer screening they always try to upsell us.
Yea, the price you quoted is the average. My root canal was about 1K over 2 visits (plus a checkup 6 months) all included in one price for the ‘treatment’ over whatever the length. In my case there was swelling that needed to go down.
I love it how people complain about “oh my god they are holding me hostage with this exhorbitant bill” they aren’t. You have the option of pulling the tooth. For me, I’d rather put out the money then have a hole. You are paying for the luxory of having a better standard of living.
The prices in this thread are similar to Canada as well. I just had three fillings and a crown (porcelain) put on and the cost was about $2500. 95% of this is covered by insurance, thankfully, but I did have to pay up front.
My dad has had his entire mouth redone, including eight implants, over the last year. Implants involved bone grafts and healing time. His total cost was $50K. About 5% was covered by insurance, he paid the rest out of pocket.
Mom has just started her process for her new teeth. I think she’s had one or two implants so far with another six or seven to go. Her teeth will cost just as much as dad’s.
Both say it’s totally worth it and happily pay the bill.
Sigh. I was told by the moderator to dial down my original post. Because I had to, you are coming up with statements I now have to defend. Check out the uncensored version in the bbq pit (or whatever it’s called).
Pulling a tooth winds up messing up every other tooth… in time. If you want a Mercedes but can only afford a used car… that’s life. If you want to have a tailored suit but can only afford clothes from Walmart… that’s life. But when it comes to dental care, it’s another ball game. They really do have you by the throat. It’s too personal. It’s unlike a car or clothes where you can suffer without it. If you don’t fix that tooth, it will change your very appearance which will affect your self esteem and the way others accept you. We can pretend that people do the right thing but truth is, if you look funny, it may cost you the job! Like I said, people with strong income or people in bed with dentists are not going to see the evil or have true empathy. Pain will deliver that empathy and only pain. It’s the people really affected by the financial (and physical) pain that see the evil. There are people walking around with dental pain each and every day because the God damned dentist will not at least offer a payment plan.
Speaking of Walmart, I went there last week and a cashier had the most disgusting two buck teeth. She was beautiful, funny, smart, nice… but those two front teeth leaves you wondering… is she sane or is she too poor? She’s just too poor. But the initial reaction is that she is mentally retarded to allow her appearance to be so skewed by those two teeth!!
My dentist works 4 days a week and drives a high end car and lives in a mansion. He has opened a second practice by this wife, who is also a dentist. Okay, the dentist talks about his 130,000 in education. I get it. But that’s a smoke screen. That’s why my question is really something Cecil should answer. We need a cost accountant with expertise in this area to really tell us the truth. A person has a lot of teeth and dentists are booked solid. A cleaning runs you around 200.00 bucks for 20 minutes of work. Cavity over 100.00. Check up? XRays. Rape. Rape. Rape. My dentist has a two month waiting period. I think that 130 grand and all the overhead and people is quickly recovered when you’re making a grand off a person in 20 minutes. And I believe their lifestyle speaks for itself. The car and the house is paid for. No question.
Again, I have no problem with the dentist getting rich. But getting rich quick is another story. But that’s what everyone wants… including the dentist. They want it ASAP at the cost of others. It affects families in serious ways.
So, what’s the profit margin? Everyone is afraid of dentists. We’ll see if I get the answer.
I’m confused…
130,000 plus half a million is $630,000. Divide by 120 months, assuming that the business will function steadily for 10 years. That’s $5250 a month. Divide by 20 working days per month and you got a whopping $262 per day of expenses. Now,let’s double it, ( because I’m really ignorant , I have zero experience in business, and so I’m just talking out of my butt. And there’s stuff I didn’t take into account, like interest on the loans, etc.)
So… …doubling the $262 gives you about $500 of fixed expenses per day, over and above the regular daily expenses of operating the clinic. If you have 5 clients a day, each one pays an extra one hundred bucks for his root canal. And then, after 10 years, you’ve paid off the fixed expenses, and so you will surely and certainly reduce your fees by 100 bucks. (Whoopee!!!–fantasies, are fun, right?)
Okay…I still dont get it…
The expenses listed by lazybratsche above are the same for a regular dentist or a root-canal specialist, right? ( student loans, real estate, machinery.)
But…
An hour of routine cleaning at a regular dentist costs $150 ,but an hour of drilling by the root canal guy costs $1000
That price may be due to the wonders of capitalism,. supply and demand, etc…But it doesnt seem like you can justify the higher expenses by talking about the student loans and real estate that the endodentist starting paying for 10 years ago.
In my area there are cost differences in dentists who are only 10 miles apart. It seems dentists who are near high end houses charge more (from what I have seen.) I go to a dentist who works in a middle class area and her fees are lower.
Also for a specialist it’s good to look for a guy who is board certified, not all of them are. My guy is certified and he’s not expensive.
FORD2, I remind you once again that General Questions is for factual discussions. Professional jabs, such as suggesting dentists are evil, and hyperbole like suggesting that high fees are equivalent to rape, don’t belong in this forum.
This thread should be restricted to the factual aspects of the economics of a dental practice. If you want to debate that dentists’ fees are unjustifiably high, you may open a thread in Great Debates. If you want to call dentists evil, you may open a thread in the Pit. (I note that your previous Pit thread was closed because it was too similar to this one. If you open another one, it shouldn’t simply repeat the first part of this one.)
Further complaints about dentists in this thread will result in it being closed as well.