Combating dental anxiety and odontophobia: painless anesthetic delivery and conscious sedation – Part 2

This post is the second in a series on combating dental anxiety with painless anesthetic delivery and conscious sedation. If you haven’t read part 1 yet, I recommend you do before continuing.

The importance of treating dental anxiety (continued)

The first and most common consequence of avoiding the dentist is chronic pain. Many sufferers of dental anxiety and odontophobia report living with mouth pain daily for months or even years before seeking treatment. Nobody should have to deal with this kind of pain when the answers to their problem are out there.

If left untreated, a cavity can escalate into a more and more dire condition, and can even be fatal. Over time, it will grow into an abscess, often between the teeth and gums. If the patient continues to avoid treatment, the infection can pass into the bone marrow or bloodstream, spreading to the major organs, causing sepsis, and eventually even death.

There is help for odontophobia sufferers of all levels

Painless anesthetic delivery

For many sufferers of dental anxiety and odontophobia, their fear of the dentist stems from a fear of needles, or anticipation of the pain and discomfort that accompanies a numbing shot. This is where painless anesthetic delivery comes in. With modern painless anesthetic delivery technology, we can make it so the patient won’t even feel the needle going in. Of course, once we can get the numbing agent in, they won’t feel the rest of the procedure either. Dr. Abeyta uses two tools to deliver anesthetic without pain: the Wand and DentalVibe.

The Wand

The wand is a computer assisted system for delivering local anesthesia. It is a highly precise tool, so much so that it can be used to delivery tightly contained numbness. The makers of the Wand call this technique Single Tooth Anesthesia (STA).

Check back soon for Combating dental anxiety and odontophobia: painless anesthetic delivery and conscious sedation – Part 3! In the meantime, check out our page on painless anesthetic delivery.