I had all four wisdom teeth extracted in the same procedure under local anaesthetic, back in the medieval days of 1980s British NHS dentistry. The four deep injections were significantly more painful than the extractions and in fact led me to avoid dentistry in general.
However, many years later, I experienced excruciating tooth pain due to air pressure change [1] while flying to the US and then while subsequently driving through Yosemite. The pain was so bad at one point I had to stop driving and the prospect of the flight home was not fun. The cavity was exacerbated by my avoidance of dentistry following the wisdom teeth. The dental injection when I got home was nothing compared to the prior tooth pain so I started properly going to the dentist again. A root canal procedure several years later involved injections that were virtually pain free so I now don't stress about the prospect of an injection at all (except perhaps for the few seconds when the dentist is about to insert the needle).
For me, the change is due to 1) improvements in procedures and 2) a general lessening in personal squeamishness as I've got older. Any injection at all when I was younger had the potential to make me faint but now I can even watch the needle during a blood test or similar. YMMV.
However, many years later, I experienced excruciating tooth pain due to air pressure change [1] while flying to the US and then while subsequently driving through Yosemite. The pain was so bad at one point I had to stop driving and the prospect of the flight home was not fun. The cavity was exacerbated by my avoidance of dentistry following the wisdom teeth. The dental injection when I got home was nothing compared to the prior tooth pain so I started properly going to the dentist again. A root canal procedure several years later involved injections that were virtually pain free so I now don't stress about the prospect of an injection at all (except perhaps for the few seconds when the dentist is about to insert the needle).
For me, the change is due to 1) improvements in procedures and 2) a general lessening in personal squeamishness as I've got older. Any injection at all when I was younger had the potential to make me faint but now I can even watch the needle during a blood test or similar. YMMV.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barodontalgia