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I need a root canal (back tooth)
Root canal therapy on a molar — the big back teeth, the most complex and most common.
The three prices nobody explains to you
What you'll see quoted $1,491 The billed charge. A list price. Nobody pays this.
What a dentist actually accepts $884 The allowed amount — payment in full, in-network.
What insured patients paid $238 Average, from real claims.
Source: Colorado All-Payer Claims Database (CIVHC) — dental analysis, commercial claims (CY2024) — the only US source publishing dental allowed amounts from actual commercial claims.
The most-quoted price in American dentistry is '$1,000–$1,500 for a molar root canal.' We traced that figure to its source and it comes from an unpublished study commissioned by a bank that sells dental financing. The real in-network price is $884.
What you'd actually pay
Your plan pays —
You pay —
Remember: dental plans have no out-of-pocket maximum. Medical insurance
protects you from catastrophe. Dental insurance caps what the insurer pays, not what you pay.
An estimate, not a quote. Prices are Colorado commercial claims — the only state that publishes
this. Colorado's data misses roughly half of covered lives (self-insured employers don't report). Coinsurance
tiers (100% preventive / 80% basic / 50% major) are an industry convention, not a measured average —
nobody publishes what share of plans actually use them. Not dental or financial advice.
Our methodology →