Root Canal Cost in Houston

Seen in Midtown Houston, Saturday hours: Book an appointment  ·  (713) 322-7474  ·  Endodontics in Houston

What a Root Canal Costs at Our Midtown Office

Root canal fees at our office on West Gray are set by the tooth: front teeth cost the least and molars the most. Retreatment, which means redoing a root canal that has failed, runs higher than a first treatment on the same tooth. An apicoectomy, the small procedure at the root tip when a retreatment will not solve the problem, is quoted separately.

Search for the average cost of a root canal in Houston and you will find a wide spread of figures. All of them are true somewhere, and none of them tells you what your tooth costs. Ask any office for their exact number before you sit down, and ask whether the crown is included. Ours is one phone call away: (713) 322-7474.

Why the Price Moves From Tooth to Tooth

Front teeth have a single canal. Premolars usually have two. Molars have three or four, they sit at the back where access is tighter, and their canals curve. More canals means more chair time and more instrumentation, which is the whole reason a back tooth costs more than a front one anywhere you go.

A few things add time to the appointment:

• A tooth that is already abscessed often needs the infection brought under control first. • Calcified canals, common in older teeth and in teeth injured years ago, are slower to find and shape. • IV sedation is available at an additional fee if you want it. Most patients do not need it and do fine on local anesthetic.

What You Pay Without Insurance

The fee for your tooth is the same whether or not you carry a plan, and we will put it in writing before we start.

Two things help if you are paying out of pocket. We finance through Cherry, Affirm and Sunbit, so the treatment can be spread across monthly payments instead of paid in one go. And our in-house annual membership plan covers preventive visits and discounts treatment for patients without insurance.

A new patient exam and cleaning is the inexpensive first step, so you can find out exactly what the tooth needs, and what it will cost, before committing to anything.

What Insurance Usually Changes

How much of a root canal your plan pays depends entirely on the policy you hold, and endodontic treatment is usually classified differently from routine care. Deductibles, waiting periods and the annual maximum all affect the final number, and plans commonly cap total benefits for the year across all your dental work.

We verify your benefits with your insurer before treatment and put your share in writing, so you are not planning around an average. We file the claim for you.

The Crown That Comes After

A root canal takes the infected pulp out of the tooth and seals it. On back teeth the tooth then needs a crown, because a molar that has been hollowed out will eventually split under chewing pressure. The crown is quoted alongside the root canal so you see the whole cost of saving the tooth at once, and a post and core to rebuild the inside of the tooth first, when it is needed, is itemized on the same written quote.

This is worth being blunt about. Skipping the crown is the most common way patients lose a tooth they already paid to save. The American Dental Association's patient guidance says the same thing: a crown shields a tooth weakened by root canal treatment, and with proper care the restored tooth can last a lifetime.

Root Canal or Just Pull the Tooth?

Pulling the tooth costs less today. It is rarely cheaper by the end.

Once a tooth is gone the teeth around it drift and your bite changes. If you decide to replace it, a single implant with its crown costs several times what the root canal would have. So the real comparison is the root canal to keep the tooth you already have, against a small fee now plus a much larger one later to replace it.

Sometimes a tooth genuinely cannot be saved, and we will tell you that directly rather than sell you a procedure that will not hold.

Who Performs It Matters

Dr. Pedram Bohluli handles endodontic treatment at our office. He trained in endodontics at Columbia University, holds a Master’s and PhD in Biomedical Engineering, and has practiced for more than 20 years. The American Association of Endodontists puts it plainly: endodontists complete two to three years of training beyond dental school devoted to the inside of the tooth, and fewer than three percent of dentists are endodontists. They perform this procedure daily rather than occasionally.

That gap shows up on the hard cases: curved canals, calcified canals, and retreatments where someone else's work has to be taken apart first. We use rotary instrumentation and digital imaging, which is what makes those cases predictable.

If You Are In Pain Right Now

An abscessed tooth does not settle down on its own, and the infection does not stay put. The Mayo Clinic warns that even if an abscess ruptures and the pain eases, the infection is still there and can spread to the jaw and beyond. Severe pain, swelling, or a bad taste from around a tooth are all reasons to be seen the same day.

We are at 106 W Gray St in Midtown, minutes from Downtown, Montrose, the Museum District and the Texas Medical Center, and we keep time open for emergencies. We are open Monday through Saturday, and the same number reaches an on-call doctor after hours. Call (713) 322-7474.

Does It Hurt?

Less than the toothache that brought you in. You are fully numb before anything begins, and the American Association of Endodontists reports what our patients tell us too: most people describe the appointment as feeling like a long filling. The tooth is usually sore for a few days afterward, which ibuprofen handles for most people. We go over pain management with you before you leave, and you can call us if anything changes.