Ha, funny you should ask. I had a root canal around October 2005. To answer your question, the root canal really wasn't painful (and I am a huge baby when it comes to the dentist). However, around mid-December 2006 I started having pain in that same tooth again. After visiting four different doctor's (dentist, endodontist, and periodontist), it has been decided that the tooth will have to come out and an implant put in. That is being done next week. If you had asked last month I would have said definitely have the root canal done, now I am not as sure. I think I would still say do it, because I think there is still more stability in the tooth (and therefore less chance of later pain) than just having it filled.