Keeping your own tooth is usually preferable when it is realistically restorable. Extraction is not a failure — sometimes it is the more predictable path. The comparison is only useful with the replacement cost included.
How much sound tooth is left after decay or fracture is removed; how much bone support the tooth still has; whether it can be sealed predictably; your bite and grinding habits; and what you want to commit to in visits and cost.
Comparing the price of a root canal against the price of an extraction alone is misleading. Compare it against extraction plus whatever replaces the tooth.
A page can inform you. It cannot examine you.
Ask for both plans with the replacement included, then decide. This is a decision you are entitled to take time over.
General information reviewed by Mankirat Gill, DDS · August 2026. Not a substitute for an in-person examination.