Root Canal vs Extraction Calculator

This calculator projects the long-term cost of three ways to resolve a tooth needing root canal therapy: keeping the tooth (root canal plus crown), extracting it and placing an implant, or extracting it and placing a bridge. Each pathway's total accounts for expected replacement cycles over the comparison period — crowns are modeled lasting about 15 years, implants about 25+ years, and bridges about 10-12 years — so a longer comparison window can require budgeting for more than one crown, implant, or bridge replacement over time, not just the initial procedure.

Crown cost is the largest single driver of the root-canal pathway's total across nearly the whole comparison-period range, because a replacement crown is needed every cycle, on top of the one-time root canal fee — the one exception is right at a 15/30/45-year replacement-cycle boundary, where a small change to the comparison period itself can add or remove an entire crown cycle and momentarily outweigh crown cost. This is a straightforward cost projection, not a clinical recommendation: it does not weigh the tooth's actual restorability, remaining bone support, adjacent tooth health, patient age, or the functional and esthetic value of a natural tooth versus a prosthetic replacement — all of which a dentist or endodontist should factor into a save-versus-extract decision alongside cost.