Whew, I sure can understand why you prefer to steer clear of the dentist these days!
I do have two or three root canals. I refused a couple of them, thankfully. With the last one the dentist recommended, I convinced her to fill it instead, and she assured me I would get bad pain there eventually. Never happened. Good to know OP can prevent reinfection of root canals, one more reason to do it!
My son has had comparatively little dental work, because the money just wasn't there for dentist bills. I used to worry about that, but now I think he's better off.