Does it hurt to go to the dentist? Many people are afraid to go to dental appointments because they think they are painful, mainly because of dental phobia caused by their experience with painful appointments or by what they have heard from others. Nowadays, due to the improvement of dental anesthetic drugs and methods, as well as the advancement of dental equipment and instruments, painful dental visits have become history. I once had a patient who had a decayed wisdom tooth and was in pain for more than a month and was unable to eat, so she did not come to the clinic because she was afraid of dental visits. Later, she brought many friends who had the same fear to see the dentist. Now, pain-free treatment has become the consensus in the dental community.