Just had my 1st premolar drilled and filled. I chose a local female dentist reasoning her hand / finger size would be more comfortable, but between her and the dental nurse, they had my maw pried open like they were shucking an oyster.
The cause of the unpleasantness was a former filling that dislodged itself who knows when. As a result, the void became impacted with tiny particles of hundreds of meals and basically rotted everything from the inside out.
Drilling out the tooth released just enough of the remaining fermented gunk straight down the back of my throat faster than the suction could suck it, along with rotten tooth and blood, that I gagged and almost bit the dentists hand.
Despite the anesthetic, one particular attachment on the drill seemed like a tiny jackhammer and was particularly unpleasant.
All up, I was in there roughly half an hour and and am lighter of pocket (until we see how much BUPA willl kick the can for) to the tune of around $380.
I still hate the dentist, just for different reasons.