On Our Unholy Fear of Root Canals

People prefer cockroaches, colonoscopies—and even Congress—to root canals. Yet as dreaded as they are, 26% of us have had one or more, and 25 million of us get root canals every year. I recently had one, when my #20 premolar recently died. In layperson parlance, it’s the tooth between the lower canine and the first…