Comments on: The Cost for my Dog’s Root Canal and Crown: $2,600

By: Barb

Barb — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 12:33:01 +0000

I just received an estimate to do a root canal on my german shepards front canine tooth which will be between 900 and 1000. I live in New York. The procedure does not include a cap. The cost of anesthesia is a big part of this cost, roughly 450 of the 900. For a smaller dog this would be less.

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 19:41:28 +0000

It’s from early 2010, so it should be fairly current. However, it does totally depend on the dog and the actual tooth. You’re probably getting high estimates at least until they can see the dog, but that’s just a guess.

By: Noreen

Noreen — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 19:28:53 +0000

Where are you located that the root canal costs $1,400? Is this a recent price (2011)? We have a 4-year-old coonhound with a chipped tooth. Our vet gave us two options–pull the tooth or get a root canal. Unfortunately, no one in Nevada on a permanent basis does root canals. A few specialists visit town periodically, one of whom is Dr. Niemiec from Dog Beach Dentistry in San Diego. We can’t get an exact estimate, but I think we’re looking at $2,000 to $2,500 to have him do the root canal when he’s in Las Vegas. We’ve been told that the price is not higher than what we would be charged if we brought our dog to the San Diego location.

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 23:46:14 +0000

I think that price sounds like about what they charge. Canine dentistry is expensive. However, I don’t regret doing it. The surgery was fine, I don’t think any worse than the surgery to extract the tooth. Probably better than that.

Since like you, we basically had to choose between surgeries, we chose well.

By: Anne

Anne — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 23:35:02 +0000

I just took my dog in today to see about saving a tooth. He’s chipped his lower canine cuspid where the root is exposed. Fortunately he’s still a young dog (not yet 2 years old), so his other teeth are in good shape. My own vet said all they can do is pull the tooth. I told them I’d like to try to save the tooth, so the specialist I saw today sold me on the benefits of keeping the tooth (even though YES, it is expensive). I’m looking at just over $1000 for a root canal, but the comparison to having the tooth removed is that since he is young and the teeth are really intact, they’d have to remove some of the bone from his jaw in order to make a complete extraction, and then there’s a chance that the teeth on either side of the cuspid become de-stabilized. The recovery from the root canal is much quicker and the procedure is much safer and less invasive overall. Now I just have to see if I can save a bit of money in order to pay for it. I think your price of $1400 for the root canal is probably a fair price. How did the surgery go?

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 01:19:34 +0000

You’re right, dogs take more work to do a root canal and there’s the general anesthesia too so it can be more expensive. I’ll definitely pass on what the doctor tells me about good chew toy and treat options.

I know it’s probably stressful for the doctor too, but the least he could have done prepared me and said something like, “OK do you have any final questions?” and then at the end, “I’m going to have Cindy come back with estimates for these procedures and you can make the decision with her which ones you want and when you want to schedule. Thanks for coming in!”

I guess it’s a bit nit-picky but it’s so much money. I was telling a friend at lunch today that this was another parenting lesson I’ve learned. I say that the cost doesn’t matter, that I want to do what’s best for Kody and that’s mostly true as long as I actually can scrape together the money.

But even though I feel that way, it is a lot of money, and it’s very stressful to think you have this expense coming. So you have the stress of your dog being hurt and to top it off you have the stress of money. The fact that it’s your dog, who you love, doesn’t really make giving up that much money easier, it just makes the decision easier.

By: Alicia

Alicia — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 01:06:42 +0000

Wow! I suppose that most of the cost has to do with surgical prep, medications and care after the procedure. The price of crowns (human or canine) really has me gobsmacked! You’ve done a lot of research here and it is good information to have in the back of my head for future reference.
I agree that the Dr. should have returned to speak with you about the estimates. Too bad if they don’t want to talk money, that is part of being a business person. I had a regular appointment for Oskar last year where the vet never even entered the room, and everything was handled, out of my sight, by the techs and other staff. I was miffed because I was still charged almost $300.00 for the visit, and I had to wait long periods of time for answers from the vet (translated by the techs) to the point that we were there over an hour. The staff said that the vet was busy. Busy?

I really hope that this all goes well for Kody, and I’m interested to hear from you about recommended toys for chewing or other dental care items.

Give Kody a big hug from us!