Pain management can be crazy but in your case it sounds like they simply didn't prescribe the appropriate medication presumably due to the anti opiate hysteria that has taken hold.

While that's quite possibly true, I forgot to mention that I'm not in the US but India. I was conscious the whole time, with only local anesthesia. Also the dentist in question is actually our "family" dentist, and he's a pretty knowledgeable/skillful guy (easily more knowledgeable than many GPs on health matters of the body).

Fun fact, you can totally get them to pause the procedure without saying a word. All you have to do is end up in a lot of pain, have your heart rate skyrocket like anything, and get everyone in the OT very concerned ;)

I had severe nerve pain due to a herniated disc. While awaiting a surgery, I was prescribed an opioid (Tramadol) but it didn't seem to help much at all. Acetaminophen actually worked better than the opioid for me...