I had one on an incisor as a teenager (a wrestling match knocked it loose and it formed an Abscess). It isn’t exactly fun, but it won’t hurt more except the needle at the beginning. I was only under local, but i hear sometimes you get the option to get laughing gas, I would take the gas if you can. It was significantly more painful before the operation than during. The vibrations are pretty intense at times and you have to stay in a pretty uncomfortable open mouth position for an hour (although they prop your mouth open for you). My least favourite part was when they clamped a uv lamp around the tooth, which felt like a big pressure for me. My mouth and tongue also got very dry, and the squirts of water they provided didn’t do much to make that better. I don’t remember much of the after care but it wasn’t bad.

10years later fwiw, my root canal developed an infection and I needed dental surgery to clear it out. During this the local numbing was ineffective for some reason and the dentist had to go in 3 times to try and renumb it, but it never really worked. That really really hurt, but it is not exactly a typical case.

I’ve had several, performed by good dentists. By far the worst part is administering the anesthesia. Second to that is the long boring wait in the dentist’s chair.

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Had some. Not bad. The worst part is the numbing. It doesn’t hurt, it just feels strange and tastes bitter. Some advice, don’t take laxatives before the procedure. You’ll be fine.

I heard the horror stories but from older generation. My root canal was easy.

They took xrays to view how deep the tooth went.

Froze area flattened a spot drilled in, and would stop and measure depth compared to xray and go again.

Dentist explained, to shallow and they would miss infected material, too deep and they could damage bone and nerve in jaw.

They cleaned it with a flexible metal tool like I image as a tiny baby bottle brush, and a solution that smelled like bleach.

Filled it with a rod of material, and then did the regular filling type stuff on the hole.

Zero pain after, and abaolutely no after affects or pain.

I’ve had two in the past, had my third just three days ago, my gums are still a little raw. My most recent root canal was on a hyper-sensitive tooth, so there was initially some pain, but once the dentist applied another couple of doses of anesthetic, it was painless, basically a more prolonged filling. The only thing I’d add is that my dentist recommended ibuprofen for after the anesthetic wears off, since there may be some pain, I’d second that recommendation since your gums will be sore for a few days

I’ve had a number of cavities repaired but only one root canal. It wasn’t a fun day, sure, but one thing that I appreciate was that it was such a complete fix for the problem. Some of my other work has had to be repaired, or I’ve had more issues on the same tooth. But with the root canal I went from being in a lot of pain to having none at all.

I’ve had two. If there’s an infection and the dentist get’s a person on antibiotics several days beforehand, then the procedure has a pretty limited amount of pain. Usually less pain than a typical filling. As others have pointed out, the local anesthetic shots are often the gardest parts which aren’t that bad. Don’t avoid the local anesthetic. If you need more, speak up. Basically, if you can handle a few seconds of being pinched then a root canal is no problem. There are also bad dentists out there.

I have a long involved horror story that led up to me needing a root canal that I decided not to post here because it probably isnt nteresting to anybody but me.

For the most part, a root canal is kind of minor. They numb your gums where they’re going to inject a numbing agent, then they inject a numbing agent, worst case they go a little nutso and try to inject a few places in there but the pain is there and gone in 5 seconds. If at any point you feel pain they can do a better job of numbing you. Honestly, any pain caused in the numbing process goes away pretty quickly when they successfully do it.

They poke around, there’s a little drilling, some bad smell maybe heat maybe cold a lot of spitting out little sandy chunks of debris. If the tooth is still in pretty good shape they just pack it back up and you’re good to go.

If you end up needing a crown there’s a good bit more drilling a good bit more spitting a good bit more smoke. But it’s really just the same thing prolonged.

It won’t kill you, it will annoy you and it’s marginally unpleasant, The anxiety of being there in the anxiety of not knowing what’s going on is much worse than the actual procedure. Meditate, chill, roll with it you’ll be fine.

I’ve had one and I am straight up terrified of needles in general. The only thing that hurt me was the initial needle. I won’t lie, getting a shot in the roof of the mouth is not a good time, but literally everywhere else is on par, if not less than a regular needle. I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s less resistance, and a good dentist will numb along the way. Also, let your dentist know. You’re not the only one who finds it scary. They’ll do what they can to make it comfortable. And if it’s long, they usually let you wear headphones. It’s not a spa by any means, but once you get the injection (which I promise is not bad), that’s it. Hard parts done. And you’ll sleep great that night because it’ll be all over. 👌🏾

If you are in pain now, you will love it when they are finished with the root canal. I have had six of them over the years, and every time I went from feeling absolutely horrible to 100% in the 1 hour it took them to do the operation.

The only thing that is not comfortable are the initial numbing shots.

Make sure they get you good and numb. If you have any doubt as to whether you need another shot, just get another shot.

After 3 or 4 or 5 shots of numbing agent, you won’t feel a thing.

Once the numbing wears off you will feel totally fine.

It’s really not that bad, much better than living with tooth pain.

Also, ask for a big gloop of topical anesthetic where they are planning to do the injections, it helps a little bit.

Lastly, ask for 10 milligrams of diazepam if you have someone to drive you. A little benzo to take the edge off goes a super long way and dentists have no problem prescribing it. Have the dentist prescribe it and take it 1 hour before the appointment. I am 200lbs and 10mg does the trick.

The analgesics today are really good, so you won’t feel much, just pressure as the dentist drills through the roots.

Otherwise, tell your dentist if you feel anxious or afraid, they are pretty used to that and will generally try to make you comfortable.

Afterward, your gum will be a bit sensitive, but your tooth won’t hurt since you don’t have nerves endings anymore.

You got this.

I had my first root canal recently. Honestly it was no worse than a filling, the most painful part was simply having to lie still with my mouth open for so long.

(I hate the injections, but I always hate injections, worth it to go through the procedure pain free though)

The worst part in my experience was actually getting numbed. You can’t see the needle going in so a lot of people with needle phobias won’t have any problem, but for me the feeling of a needle is repulsive. After that it was smooth sailing, just a bit boring.

The pop culture reputation of dentists as literal torturers is pretty outdated. Medicine has improved a lot in a short amount of time. Just look up reviews before picking your dentist, and don’t cheap out if you can help it.

The worst thing of the root canal for me was that they had a hard time getting the numbing agent where it needed to go, so they used a lot, so half my face was numb for the rest of the day. So I looked really weird when eating/drinking/speaking/smiling.