How Much Does a Root Canal Cost in Houston?

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

Root Canal Cost in Houston, by Tooth

Root canal cost in Houston typically runs $900 to $2,000 depending on the tooth. Our fees at the office on West Gray sit inside that range and are published exactly: $1,200 for a front tooth, $1,400 for a premolar and $1,600 for a molar. 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. Every one of those fees is published on our root canal treatment in Houston page.

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. The same goes for Texas-wide averages: the state does not set the number, the tooth does. Ask any office for their exact number before you sit down, and ask whether the crown is included. Ours is in the table below, and one call puts it in writing for your tooth: (713) 322-7474.

Every fee is itemized in writing before you commit: (713) 322-7474.

Why Molars Cost More Than Front Teeth

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.

Root Canal Cost 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.

Root Canal Cost With Insurance

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.

Root Canal and Crown Cost, Quoted Together

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 Retreatment Cost in Houston

Redoing a root canal is a bigger job than doing it the first time. The old filling material has to come out, a post sometimes has to be removed without damaging the root, and whatever the first treatment missed, usually a canal, has to be found and cleaned. That extra work is why retreatment runs higher than a first root canal on the same tooth, here and anywhere else.

It is still usually worth it. The American Association of Endodontists' guide to retreatment notes that a retreated tooth can function well for years, and keeping your own tooth usually beats replacing it. For Dr. Bohluli this is daily work rather than an occasional case. Retreatment here runs $1,400 to $1,800 depending on the tooth, and if an apicoectomy at $2,000 is the better route, we quote that instead: (713) 322-7474.

Root Canal vs Extraction: Which Costs Less?

Pulling the tooth costs less today. It is rarely less expensive 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 Your Root Canal 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.

Emergency Root Canal in Houston

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.