well, I wish I had arrived at this thread earlier, but here I am now. I am a practicing dentist and here are my observations:

1 Any dental procedure is painful or unpleasent if you are not properly numb. It is always a lower tooth that may be difficult to get numb because the injection is really point specific and is a bit unpredictable. Whenever you are not numb, LET the dentist know. If he refuses to listen, you need another dentist.

2 Anecdotal testimonies are at best hard to quantify from one person to the next. There are know absolutes and what happened to one person cannot be used for decision purposes for yourself. (kind of like saying "my car stopped running, should I get it fixed?" Well, it could be out of gas, or you could have a blown engine, get my point?

3 If you lose a lower first molar which is what you described, there is a significant possibility that the tooth above may drift down, and the adjacent teeth may lean in to take advantage of the space, but again,these are things that are hard to know about unless you see the bite relationship. I see many people who have lost a molar 20 years ago and no significant changes have occurred. Other people can have an extraction and 6 months later there has ben movement.

4 I always recommend the patient save a tooth that can be reasonably saved, but I have to say I have taken out teeth that were saveable if the finances are just not there to have extensive (and expensive) work done.

5 In my practice the total for a molar root canal and a crown would be about $1500.

6 I am sure there are good dentists in 3rd world locations or in eastern Europe, but I have to say I would be a little reluctant unless you have a recommendation from someone you know of a particular dentist.

7 My guess is you made a good decision and the crown will be a piece of cake to prepare and place in your mouth. Let me know if you have any questions related to this jimmyt