Can Dental Injections be Painless?

Can Dental Injections be Painless?

Any medical or dental injection can be uncomfortable by the very nature of puncturing tissue with a needle. But there are several steps that can be taken to minimize local anesthetic injection pain, especially with dental injections.

Painless Dental Injection Techniques:

There are numerous steps to making a dental local anesthetic injection as comfortable as possible, all of which can be employed by a dentist or dental hygienist to minimize the discomfort:

• Place topical anesthetic gel on the gums for a couple of minutes prior to the injection
• Stretch the tissue at the injection site to allow better penetration of the needle
• Use the sharpest possible needle (replacing the needle if multiple injections are needed)
• Use the thinnest needle possible
• Warm the anesthetic prior to injection
• If the injection is on the palate, apply pressure to the injection site for two minutes prior to injection
• Vibrate or wiggle the lip adjacent to the injection site (distracting and employing the Gate Theory of pain) 
• Inject the anesthetic as slowly as possible
• Utilize a computerized injector which applies ideal pressure and volume control
• Some new anesthetics are available which "buffer" the anesthetic to alleviate the "acidic" burning of the anesthetic being injected
• After treatment is completed, local anesthetic effects can be reversed using OraVerse.