(Just avoiding going to the dentist is pretty extreme tho - probably reasonable to get them looked at at least yearly?)
Same guy expects me to handle the pain of all four of my wisdom teeth being removed with literally one 12 pill vial of Vicodin. Acts like I'm doctor/pill shopping.
Reported him to my stats dental board, they get back to me with "well homeopathic remedies can't hurt you either, so we won't do anything to him!"
Dentists are the scum of reality, and their usage as traditional fronts for organized crime is done on purpose and as a trope in media it is sadly true.
Wage war on them as an economic group. They are almost as bad as chiropractors. Also a traditional occupation of corrupt state legislatures/senators.
Are narcotics normally required to handle that?
I also had my gallbladder out via laparoscopic surgery with the same as pain relief. It's possible we just don't feel pain the same.