I once had to do a "root canal" on myself. I had an abcess in an upper tooth. The dentist drilled a hole in it up to the abcess to drain it & relieve the pressure & pain. He gave me some antibiotic pills to take for 10 days, then he would seal the tooth. After 2 days the hole became clogged up. I was at work in the evening, so no fast trip to the dentist. The pain was excruciating. I decided that I would open the tooth & drain it. I was going to use a paper clip but the diameter was to big. I work in a lab & use hypodermic needles to inject samples into equipment. I attached a long needle to a syringe & the other end of the syringe to a vacuum line & pushed it (the needle) up into the hole. It went in about 1.25 in. I thought, I'm in extreme pain, I can't make it any worse. After I saw blood in the syringe, I removed the needle from the tooth. In about 10 minutes the pain was gone. The dentist prescribed the correct antibiotic the next day.