Root Canal Cost: Front Tooth to Molar, and the Crown After

Published averages for one root canal, without insurance, run from about $900 for a front tooth to about $1,500 for a molar, and the crown that often follows is a separate bill: published crown figures run from about $1,100 to $2,000 more. This page is part of our crowns, root canals and fillings hub. Delta Dental, an insurer, puts the average out-of-network charge at about $1,200 for a front tooth, $1,300 for a premolar and $1,500 for a molar (2025 claims data). CareCredit, a lender that finances dental work, gives national averages of $905, $1,023 and $1,220 from a survey it commissioned (September 2026). Humana, an insurer, prices the same three at $900, $1,017 and $1,175 in Orlando, Florida. None of these includes the crown or filling placed afterwards. Below: each source side by side, the root canal and crown added up by publisher, what the fee covers line by line, and what you would pay with and without insurance.

General information about costs, not dental, medical, insurance, tax or financial advice. Your dentist decides what treatment suits you; your plan’s documents and a pre-treatment estimate decide what it pays.

This page is about money only. Whether a tooth needs a root canal, a crown, or something else is a clinical question: your dentist decides what is clinically suitable for you.

What you are paying for

MedlinePlus, the National Library of Medicine’s health site, describes a root canal as “a dental procedure to save a tooth by removing dead or dying nerve tissue and bacteria from inside a tooth” (MedlinePlus, reviewed 5 February 2026). It is priced by tooth: front teeth, premolars and molars are billed under different codes, and a molar is the most expensive in every source below.

On a treatment plan or an explanation of benefits you will usually see a root canal on a front tooth as D3310, on a premolar as D3320 and on a molar as D3330. None of the three includes the crown or filling put on afterwards, which is billed under its own code. Code numbers are from the CDT Code, maintained by the American Dental Association; the descriptions here are our own.

Published estimates, side by side

No government agency publishes what dentists charge for a root canal. These are published estimates from insurers and a lender, each read on 11 November 2026. They measure different things, so we show them next to each other and don’t average them into one number.

Source (who publishes it)	Front tooth	Premolar	Molar	What it measures, and why it may lean
Delta Dental (insurer), page dated 17 Jul 2026	about $1,200	about $1,300	about $1,500	Average charges billed by out-of-network dentists, “based on 2025 Delta Dental internal data”. Includes all appointments and X-rays needed to finish the root canal; leaves out the filling or crown after it. Full, non-discounted fees run higher than the discounted fees in-network dentists accept, which makes insurance look more valuable; an insurer that sells plans.
CareCredit (lender, Synchrony), 11 Sep 2026	$905 (range $590 to $1,527)	$1,023 ($691 to $1,827)	$1,220 ($833 to $2,171)	National averages from a survey of practices run for CareCredit by ASQ360 in 2025-2026. Leaves out the consultation; CareCredit says crowns, X-rays and emergency visits can add to the total. A lender that sells financing for this work.
Humana (insurer), procedures page updated 1 Jun 2026	$900	$1,017	$1,175	Orlando, Florida only; Humana’s root canal page (updated 6 Nov 2026) says its Orlando range of $900 to $1,175 comes from its own dental pricing tool (accessed May 2026). Leaves out the restoration after the root canal. One metro area; an insurer selling plans.
Cigna (insurer), no date shown	$600 to $1,500 for any tooth, without insurance			No source or date given. Says the figure depends on the tooth, the extent of the work, the network and where you live.
MetLife (insurer), 21 Apr 2026	$1,345 list price, tooth not stated			Average charge in one Philadelphia ZIP code (19134), from MetLife’s own data, shown to make the case for buying insurance.

CareCredit’s older all-procedures cost table, from its 2023 and 2024 surveys, still shows different figures: $984 for a front tooth, $984 for a premolar and $1,337 for a molar. Its September 2026 article is newer, so we use that one; if you compare the two, they disagree.

Several other pages that rank for this search copy one of these publishers or come from dental practices, dental chains or dentist-referral sites, which we don’t use as price sources. FAIR Health, a nonprofit, has a free zip-code cost lookup you can use yourself; we link to it rather than copy its figures.

What was actually paid: the federal survey

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Medical Expenditure Panel Survey records what was actually paid for dental visits, from all sources: the patient, insurers, Medicaid and others. In our tabulation of MEPS 2023 dental visit data, visits that included a root canal had a median payment of $775 and a mean of $976; the middle half fell between $252 and $1,314, and the patient paid $487 out of pocket on average. That is per visit, not per finished tooth, in 2023 dollars, and rests on 252 visits in the sample. Dental prices rose about 15% between 2023 and September 2026 on the BLS consumer price index for dental services (our arithmetic from series CUUR0000SEMC02), so today’s payments would be higher.

The low end: a Medicaid fee schedule

Virginia’s Medicaid dental program publishes the most it pays a participating dentist: $502.13 for a front-tooth root canal, $575.77 for a premolar and $909.18 for a molar (Cardinal Care Smiles schedule, effective 1 July 2024). This is a payment floor, not a market price: it is what Medicaid pays a dentist, not what a dentist charges a patient paying cash.

Root canal and crown, added up

Delta Dental says the tooth will need at least a new filling after a root canal, often a crown, and that its root canal figures leave this out; CareCredit says a crown is sometimes placed and adds to the total. Which one is your dentist’s decision. When it is a crown, the total is the two fees together. The table adds each publisher’s own molar root canal figure to its own crown figure (our arithmetic): porcelain or ceramic where the publisher prices crowns by material, and as published where it doesn’t (Delta Dental gives one figure for a permanent crown without splitting it by material; MetLife doesn’t state the material). A porcelain or ceramic crown is usually billed as D2740; porcelain on a precious-metal base is D2750 and a gold-type metal crown D2790. More on crown prices by material is on our dental crown cost page.

Publisher	Molar root canal	Crown	Together (our arithmetic)	Caveat
Delta Dental (insurer)	about $1,500	$1,100 to $2,000 (permanent crown, out of network)	about $2,600 to $3,500	Root canal from 2025 claims, crown from 2023 claims
CareCredit (lender)	$1,220	$1,399 (porcelain, range $915 to $3,254)	$2,619	Crown figure from an article dated 15 Nov 2024, from an earlier survey than the root canal figure
Humana (insurer)	$1,175	$1,387 (porcelain or ceramic)	$2,562	Orlando, Florida only (procedures page updated 1 Jun 2026)
MetLife (insurer)	$1,345 (tooth not stated)	$1,399 (material not stated)	$2,744	One Philadelphia ZIP code (21 Apr 2026)
Virginia Medicaid (floor, not a price)	$909.18	$669.50 (D2740, D2750 and D2790 alike)	$1,578.68	Maximum Medicaid payment, 2024 schedule

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau used the same pairing in its 2023 report on medical credit cards: “a root canal procedure and dental crown could cost a patient $2,400” (CFPB, May 2023), an example figure from three years earlier.

What the price includes, line by line

A root canal quote can be one line or six. These are the lines that commonly appear around it, with the code number your plan uses and whether the sources say it is billed apart. Hold your own treatment plan against it.

Line (our words, code)	Published figures	Billed apart?
Exam for one problem, often the first visit (D0140)	Pearl, a dental software company, $70 to $185 (modelled estimate, May 2026); MetLife $112 for an exam in one Philadelphia ZIP code, type not stated; Virginia Medicaid pays at most $33.25	Often. CareCredit’s root canal figures leave out the consultation.
X-ray of the tooth (D0220)	CareCredit $55 for a single-tooth X-ray (2023-2024 table); MetLife $152 for X-rays in one Philadelphia ZIP code, type and number not stated; Virginia Medicaid pays at most $14.97 for the first image	Varies. Delta Dental says its root canal figures include the X-rays needed to finish the root canal; CareCredit says X-rays can add to the cost.
The root canal itself: front tooth, premolar or molar (D3310, D3320, D3330)	See the first table	The core fee. Delta Dental: the fee is the same whether it takes one appointment or five.
Rebuilding the tooth under a crown, a “core buildup” (D2950)	We found no three credible published prices. Virginia Medicaid pays at most $147.65.	Yes, when it is done. Ask for your dentist’s fee.
Crown (D2740, D2750 or D2790 by material)	See the second table	Yes, under its own code.

Plans also bundle some work into the root canal fee. Delta Dental’s 2026 federal employee plan treats work to clear a blocked canal as part of the root canal, and treats a redo by the same dentist or practice within 24 months as part of the original procedure, so neither is paid as a separate line (2026 FEDVIP brochure, Class C endodontic limitations). The same brochure treats the filling or crown placed afterwards as a separate procedure.

A root canal redone later is billed under its own codes: D3346 for a front tooth, D3347 for a premolar and D3348 for a molar. The only published prices we found for a redo come from dentist directories and a single practice, so we don’t print one.

Why quotes differ

• Which tooth. Every source above that prices by tooth puts a molar highest and a front tooth lowest. Delta Dental puts this down to molars typically having more canals and being harder to treat.
• Who does it. CareCredit says the cost depends on whether a general dentist or an endodontist (a root canal specialist) does the work. It doesn’t say by how much.
• Where you live. CareCredit’s state averages for one root canal run from $845 in Arkansas to $1,189 in California (September 2026).
• In or out of network. An in-network dentist has agreed to a discounted fee with your plan, and your share is a percentage of that. Out of network, Delta Dental says, you pay a percentage of the dentist’s full, non-discounted fee. Cigna’s Dental 1000 summary adds that an out-of-network dentist may bill you the difference between the fee and what the plan allows (balance billing).
• What is in the quote. The exam, X-rays, sedation, a buildup and the crown may be inside the quoted figure or listed separately. Two quotes that differ by several hundred dollars may simply include different lines.

With insurance

Delta Dental says it is common for plans to cover 50% to 80% of a root canal after the deductible. The plan documents we read show why the answer depends on your plan: they put root canals in different classes, pay different shares and some make you wait. A root canal and a crown can also use up much of a year’s maximum. (How deductibles, coinsurance and maximums fit together is explained in how dental insurance works.)

Plan (document)	Root canal: class and your share	Crown: your share	Wait, maximum, limits
GEHA Connection Dental Federal 2026, High Option	Class C, major: 50%	50%	No waiting period in the brochure; no annual maximum. Root canal limited to once per tooth for life; a buildup is covered only with evidence that the tooth wouldn’t otherwise hold a crown; major work has a 5-year limit.
MetLife Federal Dental Plan 2026, Standard Option	Class C, major: 65% in network, 80% out	65% in network, 80% out	No waiting period in the brochure; $2,000 a year maximum. Crown limited to one per tooth every 60 months.
Delta Dental of Iowa Individual Platinum Prime, 2027 policy (form INDPLATPR-012027)	Its own category: 50% at a PPO dentist	50%	Root canals after a 6-month wait, crowns after a 12-month wait; possible credit for earlier continuous coverage that included root canals, gum treatment and crowns, with no gap over 63 days; $2,000 a year maximum; $25 PPO deductible.
Cigna Dental 1000 summary (8/25)	Class III, major: 50% after the deductible	50% after the deductible	$1,000 a year maximum; $50 deductible per person; root canal once per tooth for life, a redo once in 24 months. The summary says only that waiting periods may apply; Cigna’s plan flyer (10/24) shows a 12-month wait for major work, varying by state.

Insurers’ consumer pages don’t always agree with plan documents, or with themselves: Humana’s procedures page lists root canals as major work in one place and as a basic service in another. Delta Dental’s 2026 federal plan also says it pays for a crown only when decay or a fracture makes one necessary, and that if a filling would restore the tooth adequately, it pays the filling amount toward the crown. Your own plan’s booklet is the one that counts.

A worked example

Take a molar root canal at $1,200 and a crown at $1,400, $2,600 in all. These are example fees, not a price, and we assume the plan allows the full fee; in network the allowed amount is usually lower.

• On Cigna Dental 1000’s summary terms (deductible $50, plan pays 50%, $1,000 maximum, nothing used yet this year, any waiting period already served): the plan’s share would be ($2,600 − $50) × 50% = $1,275, but the $1,000 maximum caps it. The plan pays $1,000 and you pay $1,600.
• On Delta Dental of Iowa’s 2027 policy (deductible $25, plan pays 50% for both, $2,000 maximum), eight months after coverage started: the root canal’s 6-month wait is over, the crown’s 12-month wait is not. The plan pays ($1,200 − $25) × 50% = $587.50 for the root canal and nothing for the crown. You pay $612.50 + $1,400 = $2,012.50.
• Same policy, after 12 months of coverage: the plan pays ($2,600 − $25) × 50% = $1,287.50 and you pay $1,312.50.

Run your own plan’s numbers through our dental insurance out-of-pocket calculator: your dentist’s fee or the allowed amount, deductible left, your share for this service, maximum left and any waiting period. A pre-treatment estimate from your plan, sent by your dentist’s office before the work, decides what it will actually pay.

Without dental insurance

Medicare. Original Medicare excludes dental services “in connection with the care, treatment, filling, removal, or replacement of teeth, or structures directly supporting the teeth” (42 CFR 411.15(i)(1), eCFR up to date as of 9 November 2026). The rule also lists exceptions for dental care “inextricably linked to” certain covered treatment (411.15(i)(3)): since 2023, for example, an exam and infection treatment before or alongside an organ transplant or heart valve replacement; since 2024, an exam and infection treatment before or during head and neck cancer treatment, and treatment of dental complications after it; since 2025, an exam and infection treatment before or during dialysis for end-stage kidney disease. A separate exception (411.15(i)(2)) covers the hospital stay, not the dental work itself, when hospitalization is required because of the person’s medical condition or the severity of the dental procedure. The rule says these exceptions include, but are not limited to, the ones it lists; outside situations like these, the exclusion applies to a root canal and a crown like any other dental work. Medicare Advantage plans may include dental: your plan’s evidence of coverage decides. Details are in does Medicare cover dental.

Medicaid. Adult dental benefits are set state by state. The ADA Health Policy Institute’s December 2025 review (data as of August 2025) found one state with no adult dental benefit, five with emergency-only care, six with limited benefits and 38 states plus DC at its top, “enhanced” level, meaning at least diagnostic, preventive and restorative care with a yearly maximum of at least $1,000 or no yearly limit. HPI’s levels don’t say whether a given state pays for root canals or crowns; the state Medicaid agency’s list does. For children, Medicaid’s EPSDT benefit must at a minimum include “relief of pain and infections, restoration of teeth, and maintenance of dental health” (42 USC 1396d(r)(3)), and in states with a separate CHIP program, CHIP must also cover dental services “necessary to prevent disease and promote oral health, restore oral structures to health and function, and treat emergency conditions” (medicaid.gov, read 11 November 2026). See Medicaid dental for adults for each state’s level, and InsureKidsNow.gov to find a dentist who sees children on Medicaid or CHIP.

Health centers and dental schools. Federally funded health centers must offer preventive dental services (42 USC 254b) and charge on a sliding fee scale, with a full discount at or below the federal poverty guidelines (nominal fees allowed) and no discount above twice those guidelines (42 CFR 51c.303(f)). Many offer more than preventive care, so ask whether root canals are among them. Find one at findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov. Clinics at dental schools accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation are another place to ask. More options are on our free and low-cost dental care page.

Tax and pre-tax accounts. IRS Publication 502 (2025, for 2025 returns) lets you count amounts paid “for the prevention and alleviation of dental disease”, and only the part of all your medical and dental expenses above 7.5% of adjusted gross income, if you itemize on Schedule A. HSA and health FSA money can pay qualified dental expenses tax free: the 2026 limits are $4,400 self-only and $8,750 family for an HSA (Rev. Proc. 2025-19) and $3,400 for a health FSA, with up to $680 carried over where the plan allows (Rev. Proc. 2025-32). See dental expenses, HSAs, FSAs and taxes.

Financing. Some dental offices offer medical credit cards with “no interest” promotions. On many of these, interest is deferred, not waived: CFPB’s 2023 example is the $2,400 root canal and crown paid over a six-month promotion: if the full balance isn’t paid off by the end, interest at 26.99% is charged from the purchase date, and the report notes that borrowers then owe interest on the full purchase amount, not just the part left unpaid. CareCredit, a medical credit card issuer, says on its page for dental offices that its purchase APR for new accounts is 32.99% (read 11 November 2026). Read the promotion end date and the rate after it before signing; dental financing explained works through the numbers.

What to ask before you agree

• Ask the dentist’s office for a written treatment plan with each line and its code number: the exam, X-rays, the root canal (D3310, D3320 or D3330), any buildup (D2950) and the crown, with the fee for each. Ask whether the root canal fee includes all its visits and X-rays, and whether the crown will be done by the same office.
• Ask your plan for a pre-treatment estimate covering both the root canal and the crown, how much of this year’s maximum is left, and whether a waiting period applies to either.
• Without insurance, look up local prices with FAIR Health’s consumer tool, and ask health centers and dental school clinics near you what they charge.
• Before signing a credit agreement, write down the promotion end date, the APR after it, and whether unpaid interest goes back to the purchase date.

Sources checked on 11 November 2026. Prices are published estimates from the named publishers on the dates shown; rules and plan terms are from the documents linked at each claim.