(i) To assess the impact of primary root canal treatment on the perceived quality of life amongst a cohort of Jordanian patients, (ii) to assess this cohort's satisfaction of their primary root canal treatment, and (iii) to evaluate the association of the level of training and experience of clinicians with these two parameters. A systematic random sample of 302 subjects was selected from patients who attended undergraduate, graduate and specialty clinics of Jordan University of Science and Technology. Participants were interviewed before and two weeks after completion of root canal treatment. The study instrument included the Oral Health Impact Profile questionnaire (Dugas et al. 2002) and seven semantic differential scales. Data analyses included descriptive statistics and nonparametric analyses. More than 90% of subjects reported improvements in the sense of taste, pain, eating, altering food temperature, self-consciousness, waking up during sleep, interruption of meals, difficulty to relax and difficulty to sleep after root canal treatment. There was no significant difference in terms of improvement amongst patients treated by specialists, graduate students or undergraduate students. The overall semantic differential score of intraoperative pain, pleasantness, chewing ability and general satisfaction was about 8. Satisfaction of root canal treatment by specialists was higher in terms of time involved, intraoperative pain, pleasantness and general satisfaction than those treatments by undergraduate students. Patients treated by specialist were least satisfied with the treatment cost compared to those patients treated by graduate or undergraduate students. The impact of root canal treatment on the quality of life was apparent. Satisfaction with root canal treatment approximates 8 on the semantic differential scale with preference for specialists over dental students. © 2013 International Endodontic Journal. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.