How painful is a root canal?

Yeah, I'd take his word for it. They hurt pretty bad from what I remember. I'm sure they will numb your mouth really well, might even give you something for the pain.

It's not too bad, you'll get a local anaesthetic to numb the pain. On the uncomfortable scale -

Barefoot on Lego 8/10
Flying with a hangover (Passenger) 8/10
Trapped wind 7/10
Root Canal 5/10

Good luck 👍

The painful part is the bill!

I had one recently and the useless dentist couldn't find all of the roots. He sent me to a specialist and I asked them to give me a ball park figure on the cost. Now that's painful! I haven't gone back yet. I'll have to get lucky on the horses or something before I can afford it.

Not really painful ... that is what anesthetic is for. A lot of root canals are unnecessary. Ask your dentist why you need a root canal - have him explain this thinking.

Never had one, but here's what I know: if the tooth is on your top palate, you won't feel squat even if they use bent or rusty drills. If on the bottom, it depends on how good the dentist is getting the anesthetic into the nerve.

Anesthetic and the pain is gone

i've had two root canals. one was not bad at all, really. the worst part was getting the anesthetic - it was on one of my incisors, and the shot had to go right into my front gum. it felt like the needle was going straight into my nose. but once that was over, it was fine.

my second one was awful, but that was due to the build of my root, apparently. it's been a long time & i've forgotten most of the details, but apparently the root on the molar was not quite right, & my dentist couldn't successfully complete the job. i was in his chair for two hours with my mouth open, which was the worst part, by far. otherwise, it was not terrible, standard dental worth with the freezing & poking about. i ended up getting referred to an oral surgeon who was able to finish the procedure.