Need help understanding dental bill?

I went to the dentist for the first time in about 4 or 5 years and got a whole lot of bad news (as expected for so long). 1) Very back molar, bottom, my right. This one has a big cavity. The x-ray did not show it hitting the root, but close. They said they might be able to do just a filling, but they want to do a root canal anyways because the decay migth go further than shown on the x-ray. Is that resonable? Or should I try for just a filling and hope its okay? With the root canal they would also have to do a crown. 2) Obviously, I need my teeth cleaned. 3) In addition to that bad cavity I have 4 other ones plus one old one that is broken and needs fixed. These ones are not too bad. All of them are on back teeth and are located inbetween teeth (they only could see them on x-ray not visualy). In total they want $2808 and that's after insurance. My insurance pays 100% of the cleaning without a deductable so that does not need to be considered at all. Fillings are covered at 75%, root canal is 75%, crown is 0%. Deductable is $50 and max payout is $500. Does $2808 sound resonable?!? From what I can find online a root canal + crown should be $2000 without any insurance at all and fillings would be $200 each again without any insurance at all. I thought insurance is supose to get you decreased rates, plus they'll pay up to $500? I live in Massachusetts by the way, so expensive area. My insurance company is MetLife. Since it is the end of the year I can up my dental insurance for next year to cover 80% of fillings, 80% of root canal, and 60% of crowns. Same $50 deductable and a $1500 max payout. Can someone help me figure out how much it would be with the better coverage?
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!. Usually the decay goes deeper than is seen on the x-ray. Of course it would be the least expensive way if a root canal and a crown is not needed.. In the Midwest a molar root canal is around $1200 and a crown around $1000. You could try for the filling and see what happens. You can always do the root canal and crown if it does not work. 2. Cleanings are around $90. 3. 5 fillings that extend between the teeth would roughly be around $750 for silver and $1500 for white bonded composite fillings. These are fees before insurance payments. And of course you live in a higher fee area. I would try to split up the work and do the maximum you can for insurance benefits in 2009 and do the remainder in 2010. Good luck to you.
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