Just a thought, but you might want to skip that lollipop… 
I’ve been having dental surgery all summer, covered by my wife’s plan. It has a limit of $1000 yearly. It’s covered all the extractions, and will cover what the dentist said will be “a possible root canal” and rebuilding of two teeth next week. At that point, I will have run out of coverage. If not for the fact that my wife starts a new job the same week as my dentist’s appointment, where we will have to get a new dental plan, I would have to wait until 2006 for further work to be done, and it wouldn’t begin to cover one bridge. I hope we can find a plan that lets us stay with the same dentist, with a raised limit!
FWIW I did go to the doctor last week and he gave me some antibiotics. Tooth still hurts. And the Motrin I took earlier just wore off – suddenly. Ouch. 
I’ve had 5 root canals. Apparently soft enamel doesn’t help in the dental department.
Make sure you are numb before they start. Four of mine were not bad at all - I was numb before they started in, and for the one that was due to an abcess, I felt so much better afterward that the root canal was a relief. For one of them, though, they didn’t get me numb enough before they started in - I really thought I was numb (and I’m one who can sit through fillings with barely anything, and almost fall asleep during them). I’ve never had intense pain like that before.
But as long as you’re numb, it shouldn’t be bad. Until you see the bill.
I’ve only had one root canal, but it was a doozy. At least, that’s what my sister-in-law, the dentist, said. My tooth was traumatized when I was two (actually, her husband was involved in the original injury), and it’s been a mess ever since. She went in to do the root canal and found that the roots were so twisted that she couldn’t do it. It’s not that she wasn’t skilled enough, but that her equipment wasn’t appropriate. She sent me to her friend, the endodontist to finish. Her friend, who usually does a root canal in 30 minutes, spent an hour and a half with me. Eek.
Anyway, my point is: I had what was apparently a mother of a root canal, and the worst part for me was that my jaw hurt for the next day or so from being clamped open so wide for so long. Really, not that big a deal. And, in thinking about it, I wasn’t crazy about the noises emanating from my mouth. I just tried very hard to not think about what they meant.
The money was pretty bad, though, even though my SIL didn’t charge me anything for her part. (She felt bad that she couldn’t fix it. She is a peach, and I love her beyond reason.)
I’ve had two root canals, both done by Endodonotists were also adjunct faculty at the University of Michigan Dental School. Neither were fun experiences. The first one was agonizing, but my whole face was swelled up from infection (the nerve inside the tooth died during as plane flight) and the presence of infection can interfere with local anestheric. Not only was the entire drilling process acutely painful, but but what local did make it through wore off before they were completed. (My adrenalin was really pumping, I hate the dentist and was in a lot of pain from the dead nerve). They had to give me another shot right in the middle of the procedure, and hit a nerve. It was roughly the second-most painful thing I’ve ever experienced.
The second time they remembered me, and gave me 6 shots of Novocaine plus the gas (I’m very hard to numb, very phobic of dentists, very sensitive to pain… basically an ideal client hahahah.) It was a lot more straighforward and less painful. It was still fairly uncomfortable though.
I only needed a crown on the second one. The first (it was a front tooth, I don’t know if that has to do with it) they finshed with a simple filling.
For a price break, I suggest going to the local University dental school (if there’s one nearby). It’ll cost you probably about a third of what a professional will, and even though they’re students, full professors are always nearby to help out if it gets tricky. That’s where I got mine done. All in all, I think it came out to less than a few hundred dollars.
A friend of mine said he got some dental treatment much cheaper in Canada. He’s out of the country now though, and I have no idea how to go about looking for services in Vancouver.
My root canals didn’t cost anything, because my dentist and I do the barter thing. He gets home improvements in return. Honestly-he opened his office one day on a weekend and did a root canal for me-he was looking very un doctorish in a flannel shirt, jeans, and cowboy boots, and his beloved irish setter came along, plopped his head on my leg and watched. 
Get on a dental discount plan ASAP. My root canal & crown was only $850 total because I was on a discount plan.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=dental+discount+plan&btnG=Google+Search
It takes 3 trips, one to drill out the pulp, one to drill out the gum they put in and one to fit the crown. The smell is alot worse than the pain, there usually isn’t any pain anyway. But the smell of drilled teeth is horrible.
I dislike the dentist though because its hard to find a good one.
Well… The oral surgeon said the crack is too deep. He gives a root canal a 50-50 chance of working. So I’m having the molar pulled next week and getting set up for an implant.
The dentist said that it looks like I’ve been grinding my teeth, and that’s what caused the fracture. And since I gave up smoking last week, I’ve noticed I’m grinding my teeth more. Bugger!
Do you have a bite guard? It’s like wearing a mouth guard to sleep every night. I had to get one after the dentist told me I’d have to get all my teeth crowned when I turned 30 because of the intense grinding I do. It’s really not too bad to sleep with, but some days I just don’t feel like putting it in.