I had a similar experience, minus the anaesthetic. This topic came up in a recent discussion about hospitals, so I'll copy and paste the relevant part.

I broke one of my back teeth, and was later subject to the most intense pain I've ever experienced - the dentist digging around in the inside of my tooth with a long surgical blade. No anaesthetic. Raw, undiluted pain, very close to my brain. Right after the pain relented, my Chinese friend said "are you ok?" and held my hand, and I nearly started crying. The physical shock of the experience left my body shaking for an hour afterwards. That was on the third of six visits, and I was quite apprehensive about pain the following times. I also had random people gathering around gawping and asking inane questions.

Watching a laowai being operated on: Just like the Area 51 Alien Autopsy, only live!

the clinic I went to is very nice and they have separate rooms for patients, everything is well organized.  the most important thing is  my dentist is very professional.

ps , he is cute

Never had a problem. Had a double root canal done without issue. 

I'm thinking about going to the dentist. From what I know it is quite long as you say. Also, they will probably lecture to you that you need more work done on your teeth. It was boring I will tell you that waiting in the waiting room for hours while only being able to watch t.v. was quite boring. I wish there were some type of alternative to this, but there isn't! White strips won't work either!

Go to Dr. Lu in Guangzhou! Thoroughly professional, reasonably priced and pain-free. Cheaper than dental work in America yet more expensive than normal Chinese offices. It's worth it! (Root canal and five fillings done within a week...pain free!)

I had root canal and crown done last year

no anesthetic. as the nerves were taken out in Aus a month before

cost me about $85 AUS and they fixed another hole and scaled my teeth over 3 visits

instead of the $1940 they wanted at home just to fix one tooth

one year on and no problems

this year going to the dentist in Mudanjaing for a check up and if I need any work I will get it done there

Your story sounds pretty intense. I have a two-parter to share:

When my front tooth was broken in a bike accident last month, I went to the emergency clinic part of Beida Kouqiang Yiyuan in Beijing's Haidian District. I was told at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital (which doesn't handle this sort of thing apparently) that it was the best in town.

The staff there were actually pretty good. After dealing with the nonsense of going back and forth registering and having x-rays taken, the actual tooth extraction only took about 20 minutes. I looked up how to say "local anesthetic" on my dictionary before the extraction, and was sure to have the doctor give me a double dose (he'd tap my gum and ask if I could still feel it; I lied and said yes). The procedure itself I couldn't really feel, although it's pretty messed up to have someone taking a hammer to part of your face... Afterward, I asked for codeine (dictionary again), which I was written a prescription for (cost about 40 RMB), although I didn't end up using it.

A couple of weeks later, I stopped in to the Jiamei Kouqiang dentistry in Andingmen to be fitted for a fake tooth (denture, not implant). I haven't gotten the tooth back yet, but the place, which is a chain (in Beijing at least) seemed very reminiscent of a Western office. The fake tooth cost about 800 RMB, as compared to god knows how much money back home.