There was a stern nurse whose only job was to go around the cubicals(booths?they're certainly not rooms) knocking out teeth. On my way out I seen her in another cubicle doing the same to some other poor chap.
My jaw was more painful than the actual tooth for a good few days after that.
But yeah, ship the gel.
Incidentally, living in the west has totally pussyfied me. No offense meant to my (now) fellow westerners.
"An Egyptian lower jaw, dated by experts from 2900 to 2750 BC, demonstrates two holes drilled through the bone, presumably to drain an abscessed tooth."
Other than that, as best I understand back in the day people simply had to live with it.
I'm not sure which choice is worse, but I'd certainly rather you get me drunk, knock me out and drill my tooth, than either of those.
An untreated cavity often causes infection that spreads to the jaw and from there to the rest of the head. This is usually lethal.
Before dentists, teeth that developed cavities were usually removed.