Even now, sometimes it does hurt, plenty. Local anesthesia can be somehow negated by bacterial infection, something involving the pH getting altered. My endo apologized but had to keep drilling to reach relief.

I had to suffer through one as well. They have me the max number of shots after being on antibiotics and the pain was still unbelievable. Worst part… the dentist messed up and the whole root canal was for nothing.

This was 5 years ago. We're all different. Some people respond poorly to root canals, some feel moderate pain, some feel absolutely no pain.

And to be clear, the pain has been after my root canal, not during (even though ostensibly, the nerve is gone). My worst root canal was infected, but the endodontist claims that it usually doesn't cause that much pain (perhaps, but not for some people).

My mother and uncle have had the same issues. My father has never had issues.