How painful is a root canal?

[Wishimaywishimight]

I need a complicated root canal and have to see a root canal specialist. Just how painful is this pricedure?

It's not painful. The most painful thing is how long you have to keep your mouth open for.

I got a bit tired, tried to close my mouth and discovered it was full of stuff I didn't even know was there and the dentist was very cross.

The initial injection is uncomfortable. That’s it. You can’t feel anything after! Just takes a while and jaw gets a big tired. Nowadays they can put a ‘block’ type thing in your mouth to help.
It will be fine op. (I’ve had 5).

Having my wisdom teeth out was loads worse. I think the name of the procedure is a big part of the problem. It makes you think of a canal full of blood, or perhaps that's just me.

painful with no anaesthetic

A bit jaw achy from having your mouth open for so long if you get the anaesthetic…plus jab is a wee bit stingy, but not too bad at all

"Sharp stab" from anesthetic
Boring.
Achy from having mouth open for so long.
Blessed relief from the previous pain.
Worst bit for me was getting the mould done, but that was me gagging rather than pain.

I went to a specialist for mine and even the anaesthetic wasn’t a problem . It took quite a while to do but was a lot better than I thought it would be .

I had no pain from the work
( no anaesthesia either as my dentist said it was dead )
But my jaw ached afterwards

I’ve had a root canal done through a crown , involved drilling off part of the crown etc.

It was fine not painful at all due to the anesthesia.
I just found it really hard keeping mouth open for so long , if felt like lock jaw.
Also the plastic tent thing they clip on to keep the area sterile is a pain , it’s like lying with your mouth wide open with a rubber balloon material stretched across.

So yeah it’s not sore just really annoying

I had one when my kids were little and it felt like a holiday. Nice lie down, free drugs, noone bothered me for an hour.

Many thanks everyone, I am (largely!) reassured re the pain. It's an endodontist I have to go to as it is apparently a complicated job so I'm hoping they have some good drugs!

As many of you point out, the cost is very much a painful factor. Even more so as the dentist I should get a crown at a later stage. The alternative would be an extraction followed by an implant which would cost €2.5k which would work out even more expensive than the root canal plus crown and this is the option the dentist said he would chose himself in order to save the tooth.

I can't say I'm looking forward to it but I am feeling better about the pain aspect, so very many thanks to all who responded.