Local Anaesthetic doesn’t have to hurt (time to read: 2 mins)
With the right skill, care , topical anaesthetic gel and a little known piece of dental wizardry called ‘The Dental Wand‘ we can make teeth, gums and even the whole jaw (for implant surgery) numb without the patient feeling a thing.
At my practice in Essex, this is so routine I don’t even think about it anymore. Just as in many dental surgeries the world over, dentists have come to take a little toe-curling and a wince from the patient as they administer their injections of local anaesthetic for granted, the opposite is true at Winning Smiles.
This was borne out for me the other night when my last patient came in for a clinical examination. Being my younger brother he hasn’t been in for years so obviously there was work to do…..and being my younger brother I thought I’d better do it straight away otherwise he’d just go away and wait for the abscess to develop! Giving him a lift to the station he said ‘Wow, you don’t use injections any more, that gel stuff works really well!’…and I realised that after I had painted topical gel on the gum, he didn’t feel a thing until we were all done!
The Dental Wand is a computer controlled anaesthetic delivery system which -with a little training and a gentle approach- allows ‘numbing up’ to be accomplished without the patient feeling a thing. No sharp stab. No sharp pain as the needle continues its journey into the gum… that’s it: and all you need is
- A tube of numbing gel
- Anaesthetic at body temperature (pre-warmed)
- The Dental Wand (click for Andrew’s video)
and a gentle approach….
Now that’s not difficult, is it? So why are so few dentists using it, oh I forgot, making your patients wince is ok…..
A patient of mine came back from the States recently. A friend of hers had just come back from the dentist over there….and Teresa was surprised to find out that her friend had been subjected to the old fashioned injection – in the land of advanced dentistry!
