re: Do dentists just not do the hard stuff anymore?

I got punched in the jaw about 15 years ago. It cracked one of wisdom teeth. 5 years later was in excruciating pain on a Friday. My dentist (a buddy I went to HS with) gave me an antibiotic over the weekend. He pulled it out the next Monday. I’m talking standing over top of me in the chair with a pair of pliers! He numbed it, but the pressure and his fat fingers in there were painful.
Fast forward 2 years and the molar next to it is giving me problems. He checked it out. He said they can’t pull it or it would affect my facial structure. Gotta do a root canal, but he was booked up. He’d have his second dentist do it.
She was this tiny (dot) Indian. She had these dainty little fingers. Completed the root canal including the cap in about 4 hours. Absolutely no pain! I returned to work that afternoon. Didn’t even need ibuprofen!