Biden postpones Monday events, including meeting with NATO chief, for unplanned root canal

President Joe Biden was forced to cancel his schedule Monday - including talks with NATO's outgoing secretary general - because of an unplanned root canal.

The White House said the procedure had been "successfully completed" by mid-afternoon and the president was "doing just fine."

He first began experiencing pain in a lower premolar on Sunday. His physician, Dr. Kevin O'Connor, said a team from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center performed an exam, including x-rays, and recommended the root canal procedure. The team performed the initial part of the root canal on Sunday.

After "further discomfort this morning," O'Connor wrote in a memo, the endodontal specialty team planned to complete the root canal procedure at the White House on Monday. O'Connor said the discomfort was expected.

The president's team was not planning to use general anesthesia for the procedure and the 25th Amendment transferring power to the vice president was not invoked, a White House official said.

Biden did receive local anesthesia as a "numbing" agent, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.

The operation is not Biden's first root canal; when he chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee in the 1990s, he underwent middle-of-the-night procedures during Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Clarence Thomas.