You could also try rinsing with baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) or try oil pulling with olive oil.

I know if a few people that did root canal, and they all regretted it. Basically with root canal you kill the nerve. The tooth dies and you will have to do other surgery to fix it later down the road, so dentist suggest this a lot because they make money off it. My wife says it's better to just take the tooth out, and it's cheaper.