[James]

If there's no damage to the tooth, you won't need to get a fake one. They'll just hollow it out to reach the nerve, scoop it out, and replace it with these little red thingies. Then they fill the tooth in again, like a cavity filling.

If you catch the nerve damage early on, you're in much better shape. The nerve will just come out real easy, instead of them having to scrape out all the rotting mush. :grisleydetails

In the end, it doesn't hurt. And I can sympathize with medication having little to no effect. I had the dentist inject me with novacaine 3 or 4 times during the root canal, because it kept wearing off. Not like I was in pain or anything. I just felt my mouth tingling, like when you have a foot that's fallen asleep, and it's starting to get feeling in it again.

Just don't putz around with your tooth, or eat anything hard or chewy or shit like that for a couple weeks. Give it a chance to rest.