I have to suppose that if we had lived back then, we wouldn’t have considered surgical procedures without anesthetic especially horrifying.
As it is, it seems like medieval torture.
Thats true.
30 years ago I had my wisdom teeth out by my regular dentist with just NOX and novacane shots, followed by a week’s prescript of Tylenol3 (which I was ordered to discontinue as soon as I could) None had erupted yet, and two were impacted, one with an abscess. Those two had to be broken up in-situ and removed piece by piece.
I mentioned this a few years back at my first cleaning appointment with a new and younger dentist at the practice I go to. He was absolutely stunned that I hadn’t gone to an oral surgeon and rec’d general anesthetic.