Among hundreds of dental treatments, the root canal is one of them. There’s no wonder that the root canal is one of the most severe, dangerous and highly painful conditions in which the pain can reach up to 7 dols. However, if your dentist or endodontist has suggested root canal treatments, there’s no need to worry. The root canal treatment works by putting sand on a burning fire to stop the infection and pain from spreading all over the mouth.
However, no one tells you on the internet and forums is the cost of a root canal. That’s why in this article, we’ve written an ultimate article on everything you need to know about the root canal, its pricing, insurance plan coverage and other financial information regarding the root canal.
Continue reading the article:
What is Root Canal Treatment?
Before getting into the financial details of a root canal, let’s briefly look at what root canal treatment is.
Inside of your white tooth, there’s a calcium layer “dentin”; inside of this dentin, there’s a tissue “pulp”. Root canal treatment is the removal of this tissue from your tooth. It happens when the pulp of your teeth gets infected by external bacteria due to any reason.
The pulp comprises tissues, blood vessels, and connecting nerves, which helps your tooth nourish and grow in the development stage. However, when your tooth grows, it no longer requires pulp. It can nourish and take care of itself on its own through other connecting tissues.
Therefore, if the pulp gets infected, dentists mostly remove the pulp from the teeth and fill the pulp area with a filling. It doesn’t cause any side effects to the tooth. If the infected pulp lets untreated, the infection can spread all over your jaw, teeth and can cause serious teeth conditions and be highly painful as well.
In some cases, the dentist might need to replace your whole teeth with a bridge or replacement. It usually happens when the pulp infections spread to your tooth and expire. In those conditions, the replacement of the tooth is the only option.
Root Canal Treatment Procedure
If your dentist or endodontist has suggested you go through the root canal treatment, no worries, it’s an easy and not so painful treatment. If you want to know the process of root canal treatment, continue reading this section:
- Dentists proceed by numbing the gums around the teeth to avoid pain from injections or the treatment itself. It is unnecessary to be unconscious while undergoing root canal treatment, and only numbing the gums will be enough to perform the job. This step is called Extirpation and is important before the dentist proceeds with the surgery.
- The purpose of root canal treatment is to remove the infected pulp from the inside of the teeth. Doctors drill a small opening on the teeth to extract the infected pulp out of the teeth to fix the damage. The pulp is extracted using professional tools and under proper measures. The opening is washed with an antibacterial solution so that the teeth are not at risk of any other infection.
- The opening is not left exposed after the infected teeth have been cleansed. It is temporarily filled so that no other substance comes in contact with the internal part of the teeth. Sometimes the dentists perform teeth cleaning more than once, but that is dependent on how much damage is caused by the disease. The filling is also dependable on the procedure that has been performed. There are specifications for the amount of extraction that has been removed. Dentists use ‘post’ to fill in the gap if the opening is deep.
- A one-time root canal treatment should be enough to treat the concerned matter. The doctors prescribe antibiotics right away so that there is no risk of reinfection in the teeth. After the procedure, it’s common for the patient to not feel any sensitivity in their teeth. This is because of the extraction of the nerve that introduces zero sensation in your teeth.
Financial Things in Root Canal
Here comes the most important section of this article and the one for which you clicked on the article, which is the cost, insurance coverage and other financial things related to the root canal treatment.
We’re going to talk about this in a detailed manner; continue reading the article:
Cost of Root Canal Treatment
The cost of root canal treatment always fluctuates in many factors. Depending on your area, country’s inflation, and dentist’s qualification, the price will always fluctuate. Moreover, the price also depends on the condition of the treatment. The higher the professional dentist you’ll go with, the more pricing they might charge you. But of course, they’ll give you quality, trusted and effective treatment.
We know it’ll not be a good idea to leave this topic just by saying “depends on factors”. All we can do is to give you an average idea of how much it’ll cost you.
Asian Country
If you’re from an Asian country, the treatment would cost you about 40$-150$. The fluctuation is dependent on your area, the standard of the dentist and the country’s inflammation as well—countries including China, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Philippines and vice versa.
South Asian Countries
The south Asian countries have the lowest pricing as compared to any other region. It’s because of the high inflation of these countries but the high currency value. The treatment would cost you about 15$-70$—countries including Pakistan, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and vice versa.
Western and European Countries
Western and European countries have the most expensive pricing if compared with any other region. It’s because western countries have the highest-paid. On the western side, the treatment would cost you about 130$-250$.
This was the average pricing of treatment. It doesn’t include any bridge, removal of teeth or other supplements and pain killers.
Treatment Types and their Cost
There are different ways by which root canal treatment can be done. They’re mentioned below:
Filling
The filling treatment of the root canal is the most common way to cure the root canal. In this treatment type, the dentist performs a short surgery in which they remove the pulp from your teeth and fill that void with a filler. This removal of the pulp doesn’t cause any effect on the tooth because, from the age of 16, the teeth can absorb the nourishment from other nerves as well.
The treatment would cost you about 30$-100$.
Medications
Medicines are also used as a treatment for a root canal. However, they’re only used when the condition is in an early stage, and the infection isn’t severe. To be precise, medicines are used when dentists know that pulp is curable. The medical treatment doesn’t involve any surgery, removal or filling process. Doctors usually suggest medications such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) or Aleve (naproxen). However, it all depends on your infection’s stage.
This treatment is the cheapest root canal treatment. It would not cost you more than 10$-70$.
Replacement
The replacement is the last stage of root canal treatment when no hope is left behind. The process only happens when the pulp infection spreads all over your tooth, and the tooth expires due to the infection.
In such cases, the only way to fix the disease is to remove the whole infected tooth from your jaw and replace the space with fillers and a bridge so that you can chew the food and speak as usual as before.
This type of treatment is the most expensive root canal treatment. It would cost you at least 150$-250$
Note: The information mentioned in the above section is gained from the average statistics around the world. It doesn’t specify any country. It was to give you an idea of the financial things of root canal treatment.
Insurance Coverage of Root Canal Treatment
If you have medical insurance, you got a good chance to get the courage from your medical insurance company. Almost all medical insurance companies cover the cost of dental treatments, including root canal treatment as well.
However, there are a few things that you might consider reading:
Specified Dentists
The first thing that the insurance company will oblige you to treat your root canal from their authorized dentists only. The insurance company will offer you, doctors. If you decide not to go with their suggested doctors, your insurance company will not pay for your treatment.
% Coverage of Bill
The insurance company will also not pay all the bills of your treatment. Some do pay, but most of them don’t. They’ll pay a percentage of the bill charged at your treatment (usually 70%-95%).
Maximum Amount of Coverage
The insurance company will never pay unlimited money for your treatment. The company will stop paying for your treatment when they’ll reach the limit of money they’ve given to you for the treatment. The limit is about 800$-1500$/month, or it can be counted in any terms dispensing on your contract. If the limit crosses, you’ll need to pay all the cost of the treatment.
