I had to have a root canal for the first (and so far only) time a couple of years ago. I was glad to have the option to save the tooth before it was too late, but having to have one was stressful and anxiety-provoking until it was all over with. Partially because of the bad reputation and dread associated with hearing the words "you need a root canal," partially because it was uncomfortable at times and involved a lot of time in the chair. My experience from the beginning, which wasn't particularly pleasant but ended well and will hopefully be interesting for some people to read:
I went to a new dentist for x-rays, a cleaning, and a check-up, and much to my disappointment, she diagnosed four cavities that needed fillings. When I came back to get the work done, she decided to start with drilling and filling a lower molar. She had an incredibly difficult time getting me numb--it took several injection attempts before the nerve block was at all effective, and another several false starts where she started working on me and had to stop immediately to give another injection because I was still feeling the drill. After I finally got mostly numb and she got to work, I still ended up feeling some painful twinges throughout the drilling even though my face was full of anesthetic, but by that point I let her keep going because it was bearable and I wanted things over with.
When the numbing wore off, I was in a lot of pain--partially just soreness from so many injections, but also an awful throbbing aching pain in the newly filled molar that would come and go at random, and lingering intense sensitivity to cold. I called the dentist, and she said it sounded normal and should go away on its own, and told me to take ibuprofen. So I did (a lot, constantly), which took the edge off the pain, but the underlying issue didn't improve over the next couple of weeks, at which point I had another dentist appointment for more fillings. I brought up how much pain I was still in from the first filling, and she examined me but said it still seemed fine and would go away on its own. I argued with her that it was getting worse rather than better over time, and she told me I should just get the other fillings done that day and wait out the molar pain, but that if I insisted she could redo the first filling. I chose neither, left without having any additional treatment (she was really angry), and scheduled an appointment with a different dentist for a second opinion the next day.
Dentist #2 did some more thorough diagnostic testing with cold, heat, and tapping on the tooth (ouch, but necessary) and immediately said the dreaded words "you need a root canal unless you want to have that tooth extracted," and offered to either do the root canal himself or refer me to a specialist. He also said that judging from his exam and my x-ray records, I didn't need any more fillings at all!
I chose the specialist, and so found myself at Dentist #3 the next day, an endodontist. The endodontist was amazing--she saw how anxious and stressed I was and explained everything in a thorough and reassuring way, and after examining me and redoing the diagnostic tests (double ouch), agreed that root canal treatment was definitely the way to go. She knew exactly what to do to get me fully, profoundly numb, and keep me that way throughout the procedure (turns out I have a simple anatomic variation in my nerves in that part of my lower jaw that requires a different anesthetic injection technique). She told me everything she was doing as it was happening, and once the rubber dam was on and she started drilling and I realized I really couldn't feel a thing, I was pretty relaxed. It wasn't easy to have my mouth open that long, but the rubber dam actually made it easier since it propped my mouth open and I didn't have to worry about keeping my tongue out of the way. The whole thing took about 90 minutes in the chair, and the worst parts besides the nervousness beforehand were the weird scraping noise while she was cleaning out the canals, the stress of not being able to talk with the rubber dam in and not being able to take any real breaks once things got underway, and the sheer length of time it took to get everything cleaned and filled. The root canal itself was pain free. When the numbness wore off this time I was sore, but not nearly as much pain as before the procedure. I had a Vicodin prescription from the endodontist, but never needed it. The soreness resolved after about a week. And I hope I never need another root canal, but if I do I at least know where to go to have it done well.