My sister needs a root canal. The issue, however, is that her doctor
really doesn't do much of any sort of pain control - and my sister's
really scared of pain. Major anxiety.

She went to a "pediatric dentist" today, who supposedly specialized in
root canals. He didn't do any sort of pain control beyond the usual
needle in the top of the mouth, and really attempted to rip her off -
wanted to charge her about two grand for the root canal.

I seemed to recall back when I used to lurk here that there were
dentists that would give a patient some sort of sedative a half hour
before the treatment, so that anxiety would not keep the pain killers
from setting in, and go to other lengths to reduce the pain suffered by
the patient, including offering the mask to keep the patient unconscious
during the root canal. Hopefully, someone could give me a referral to
just such a dentist (preferably in Brooklyn or Staten Island.)