Dentist verdict: I need a root canal
I finally had my dentist appointment to have a tooth looked at that has been a major pain for some time. Part of the tooth had cracked and the fissure in it wasn’t helping things. The dentist did some testing on the tooth to check the nerve, things seemed positive. After a bit of drilling away I guess the decay was into the nerve and the news is I have to have a root canal done on the tooth. One thing that is for certain, after that is done there won’t be any more pain from it since the nerve will be gone.
Financially speaking I’m probably looking at a significant bill just for the root canal. I will more than likely wait a few months after that before having a crown put on the tooth. From what I figured out it will be at least $500 out of pocket which I will try to roll into the budget, maybe slide along with help from the EF to spread the cost over 3 months. At least my dental insurance will pick up the other half of the cost. This is the last major dental work I must have done, then all I need to worry about is cleanings. My going to the dentist lapsed quite a bit while I was gone at college, otherwise a lot of issues I’ve had over the past 3 years could have been avoided. It’s very important to go to the dentist twice a year for cleaning and inspection.
My wife on the other hand also has to have some dental work done this summer. Her wisdom teeth have been a problem for quite some time and need to be removed. I think that might be a medical procedure so we’ll have to see what our cost will be for that. When I had my wisdom teeth removed it was a really bad experience. When a blood clot doesn’t form where the tooth was, it’s called dry socket. My jaw bone was exposed to my mouth which is really painful and prone to infections. I had migraine headaches, sinus infection, and some other stuff. This is why I keep telling her to have it done this summer so she has time to recover if things are rough.
Question for my readers: Have you had any major dental work done like root canal? What was it like and did you have insurance to help pay for it?
Had surgery on my gum on Friday. It was pretty painful and took about an hour and a half. Recovery has been annoying - I can’t eat and I constantly feel the stitches on the top of my mouth where they removed a piece of my tissue, so that’s pretty darn uncomfortable. They gave me antibiotics and pain pills (co pay only $8 for both).
I’m not sure what the final bill would be as they said my insurance pre-approval hadn’t gone through yet. They handed me a statement saying the surgery cost $1100 and that my insurance would pay out $600. They told me all I had to pay was my $25 deductible and I’m crossing my fingers they don’t come looking for more later but it was a little unclear and I was in too much pain to ask further questions.
Not looking forward to the wisdom teeth operation either - especially after reading your story but my dentist said it has to happen ASAP.
I, too, neglected my teeth while in college and beyond. As soon as my dental insurance kicked in last summer I got a checkup and spent the next eight Fridays getting cavities filled - but luckily it was all free.
The dentist wanted to give me a root canal when I was like 8 but my parents said no b/c they didn’t want me to go into all that pain. I think they did something else instead and my mouth has been fine.
I have heard some really bad things about it though, maybe you shouldn’t post that day, we probably won’t want to hear what you have to say when you are in that much pain. Good luck
Root canals are cake! Seriously, it’s not that bad at all
About three years ago, I went to the dentist after not going for a while. I’d been broke. I was still broke when I went in, but whatever. I needed a root canal on one of my teeth and crown to protect it. I also needed a bunch of cavities. I had no insurance at the time, but I did sign up for a dental discount plan which cut some of my out-of-pocket costs 30-70%.
I think I ended up paying something like $1200 for the root canal, crown, and one filling (for a different tooth). Maybe it was a little more. It’s hard to recall.
Hmm…I should have proofread my comment first.
I also need a bunch of cavities *filled*.
Yikes! A root canal! Ewwww! I had my wisdom teeth taken out about 10 years ago and the out of pocket was $1100 after what the insurance paid, so no, it’s not cheap!
Thank goodness for your emergency fund, once again!
I’ve been fortunate that my wisdom teeth have been coming out one by one and growing out normally rather than impacted, so the dentist did the procedures as normal extractions rather than dental surgery. I haven’t had to pay out of pocket, insurance doesn’t cover everything but the dentist is a longtime friend of my mom’s so she doesn’t bill us extra - very nice i know, she did the same for my braces too!
I have paid a lot of money out of pocket on top of insurance. My problem is making of for years of dental issues and then neglecting things in college because I didn’t have time or money to handle it. The $100 bucks it would have cost me to have a cleaning every 6 months seems like nothing now. Not much I can do at this point but move forward.
I have had a root canal, three crowns and my wisdom teeth pulled. The best dental insurance you can have is through the military. Through all of this work I was out of pocket maybe $600.00. It cost $500.00 for my root canal, $800.00 for each crown and $1,200.00 to have my wisdom teeth pulled. Hubby is now out of the military and we have BCBS, their dental sucks!!
I didn’t have any trouble with my root canal procedure or my wisdom teeth. Don’t let people’s horror stories scare you. Many of them are blown out of proportion. Of course some people do have a really bad time with dentistry.