Doc, is it going to hurt??

Question:  What's new in the world of dentistry to prevent or mitigate dental pain?

Everyday my patients tell me “it's not you doc, but I hate the dentist!”  When I ask my patients why they hate the dentist, they say, “because of the drill sound, the needle and THE PAIN!!!!”

The truth is, dentists don’t like causing their patients pain as much as patients don't like being in pain. I have heard the horror stories of the dentist who wouldn’t stop drilling even though the patient told him it hurt. Believe it or not, this is so extremely rare that it is only talked about because it happens so infrequently.

Technological advances have done a lot to prevent patients from feeling dental pain. This includes using a comfort injection machine (called the wand), super strong topical anesthetic, septocaine instead of novocaine, noise cancelling headphones, a soft tissue laser instead of a scalpel, a Cad-Cam (computerized) machine to make single day crown appointments, nitrous oxide, and oral sedation.

Let's talk about a few of the technological advances today, and I will continue with the others next week. The wand can comfortably numb a single tooth anywhere in the mouth without causing the cheek to feel numb. It is a remarkable machine and works about 60% of the time. When asked, most patients say “I don’t know what you did but I didn’t feel anything.”  I have performed crowns, extractions, fillings and even root canals with only using the Wand for anesthetic.

Septocaine is a super strong local anesthetic that ensures that most people are profoundly numb.  Instead of using multiple shots of lidocaine (what most poeple think is novocaine) septocaine can be used to achieve the same level of numbness.

Topical anesthetics (the gel we use before the needle) have come a long way.  We have found that due to the strength of these new topicals, a lot of times we can just use the gel instead of the needle.  We can perform some procedures with just our super strong topical, such as gum infection therapy, some fillings, and some soft tissue procedures. (More to come on soft tissue laser procedures next week).

Disclaimer: In my clinical experience, about one out of 500 people have a predisposition that makes it extremely difficult to get them numb.   If you are one of the unlucky ones, longer appointments (allows for anesthesia to work), nitrous oxide and oral sedation may be better options for you.