Toothache

I have a toothache that is turning out to be quite a pain, literally, to relieve. For a couple of months now, I have had a strong pain in a lower back tooth whenever I eat, drink, or lately even breathe. I finally went in to the dentist today to get it fixed. First he had to find out exactly where the pain was located. I find it hilarious, embarrassing, and somewhat intriguing that I was unable to pinpoint the location of pain in my own mouth. I know it hurts in the back, but which tooth I hadn't a clue! He applied pressure here and there, and thought at first it was on the side of the tooth. I told him I thought it was on the top of the tooth. Then, he applied some "arctic breeze" (basically dry ice in a can) to some cotton and touched it to the top of my teeth. First touch, nothing. Second touch, searing pain that made me cry out. We found it.
Then, he did something I found unusual. He actually scolded me for crying out in pain because he said there were children in the office and that hearing anyone yell might scare them. At first I thought he was kidding. Then, I realized he was serious. I didn't think I yelled out very loud really, especially since it felt like a dagger had been thrust into my mouth. But I mumbled an apology. He seemed to regret chastising me since he then told me that he personally knew how painful a toothache could be. I am still not sure what to make of that incident.
Anyway, he said that replacing the filling usually made the sensitivity disappear for most people. The only trouble was, an hour and a half and 3 shots later, I was still sitting in the chair...not numb. For some reason, my tooth would not cooperate and go to sleep. The entire side of my mouth after the third shot was totally numb, but that one tooth still had feeling. He would test it with the arctic blast stuff and I could still feel it. Apparently, the nerve inside the tooth must have been inflamed and resisting the anesthetic. He mentioned that I might have to have a root canal because of this. That is when I started begging God that my tooth would get numb. I decided to give it 10 more minutes and one more test before giving up. And thankfully, that last time it was fairly numb. Not completely numb, but numb enough for us to give it a go. So, move over James Frey, I really did have dental work done and could still feel it. It wasn't so bad at first, but as the drill penetrated deeper into the tooth to remove the old filling, I could feel it more and more. Near the very end I started to get very afraid. I was terrified that the drill would suddenly poke through into completely un-numb tooth and give me the most painful experience of my life. Just as I was thinking I could tolerate no more, it was finished. As he replaced the filling, I felt slight pain here and there, but nothing too bad. Now it is finished. I have to wait 2-3 days to see if this did the trick. Or if the pain persists, I may still end up having a root canal. (please, oh please, no!)