I’ve written before about pain free dentistry, and that it shouldn’t be an optional ‘extra’. We’re all human, and none of us would look forward to needles and discomfort. We always use the dental wand to make the visit as painless as possible.
But, although this technology has been around for a while, most new patients are as wary as ever.
I’m hoping that some day this worry might simply just go away. It would certainly make for less stress the day before the visit – from most people’s accounts.
But a good friend set me thinking about this again the other day whilst in the chair. He asked if we were busy or not, which we pretty much always are. Its a common question, and then it dawned on me, as he was looking around.
He has a very sensitive mouth, and I can almost go and make a cup of tea whilst we’re waiting for him to be ready for treatment – except it’s nice to have the time catch up.
But the secret ingredient – its a ‘time’ thing
People do vary in the amount of time it takes for their mouths to numb. And the key is definitely ‘not to rush’. Don’t rush the anaesthetic, use the proper amount according to the patient, and don’t rush the treatment.
It’s been fairly second nature for quite some time in dentistry, and so perhaps we didn’t tell everyone we needed to (hence this post).
My view is that with the right planning, there is time to do everything we need to and communicate, which is our other key tool!
Time and communication.
Perhaps I will ask Damien to write about the dental sedation skills he’s bringing to the practice too, it might be useful for people to know a bit more about that, and we often work together. Watch this space.
update: Andrew recorded a video about the dental wand