Today was my third trip to the dentist, the day we tackled the big cavity on between my upper left bicuspid and molar, and, fortunately, the big one wasn't quite what the dentist feared it might have been. (Difficult to tell from the x-rays whether it was a tunnel viewed end-on, or just a spot.) More fortunately, though, are we to live in an age of modern dentistry. The anesthetic has worn off, and I'm sore, and my gums are bright red, but the actual drilling was virtually painless. By tomorrow, I won't be able to tell the difference.
As recently as twenty years ago, drilling hurt. Novocaine no doubt helped substantially, but you could still feel dull jolts deeper in your jaws, and a weak but direct discomfort at the surface. When the novocaine wore off, ouch!
A few generations ago, there was no local anesthetic, nor tiny high-speed drillings; you went under ether and had major restructuring done.
A few centuries ago, there was no anesthetic at all; you just gripped the chair while the barber yanked. And, of course, there were weeks or months of discomfort before the treatment, because, without brushing and twice-yearly checkups, you had teeth pulled when they'd rotted through.
We've had pavlovian conditioning to cringe at the sound of the drill, admittedly unpleasant to start with. I wonder if that will cease to be true in another fifty years. I'm especially curious what miniaturization will do for the effectiveness of the dentists' tools.