Comfortably Numb...
Are you still scaring your patients by coming at them with a BIG SYRINGE? If you are using the traditional LA syringe to deliver your anaesthetics then most likely you are! In the mind of the Patient if not in reality.
No matter how good you are with your injections, most of your patients (well at least mine) still hate having THAT BIG NEEDLE. Some years ago I attended a course on Local Anaesthesia by Stanley Malamed. The day was very informative and gave me the necessary jolt to review and update my knowledge on Local Anaesthesia for dentistry. About 20 dentists had signed up for the end of day hands-on session and after a long day of lectures I was somewhat disappointed when I realised that this was to be a ‘sales session’ for a piece of kit called The Wand.
It turns out that The Wand is simply a computerised plunger that pushes the anaesthetic solution of your choice through a needle that you have placed into the right parts of your patient’s anatomy. My initial thought was that I had done that ‘successfully’ with my hand without the need for a fancy bit of kit for the last 20 years. Surely I can continue to scare my patients as much (if not better) than the next dentist; get your coat, start the car! Having paid up for this extra session I opted to stick with it and at least get the ‘free’ glass of wine at the end.
The exercise was to have a Dentist, who I had never met before, give me an injection using this Wand. I assumed a nice gentle buccal infiltration next to the upper 6; but no we were going for delivering 1.4ml into the Palate, an Anterior Middle Superior Alveolar Nerve Block. Now the last time I had a palatal injection was in 1982 when I had my wisdom teeth out. At that time my fellow dental student told me “we only need to put a few drops in, as this usually hurts like hell”. He wasn’t wrong. This time, with a pretence to bravery, I went first, my partner, who had never used The Wand, delivered the half cartridge or so of local into my palate. To my (and his) utter amazement I felt almost nothing, except after a few minutes the sensation of a very numb palate and upper left anterior segment. On reversing our roles, it was payback time. I, again to my utter amazement, numbed his palate without any pain, a first for me also.
I had paid for my Wand unit before the cork was out of that bottle wine. The ‘free’ glass tasted of little at all, at least on one side.
So what is The Wand?
The Wand is a computer controlled anaesthetic delivery system and looks like a modern piece of equipment, unlike an old fashioned syringe; bringing one of dentistry’s last remaining antiquated designs into the 21st century.
A foot pedal controls the computerised plunger which in turn precisely controls the rate and pressure of delivery of solution through the single use handpiece. This controlled delivery is what allows you to get your anaesthetic to where it is needed without much of the traditional discomfort/pain that is associated with using a syringe.
The lightweight handpiece is a harmless looking 15cm plastic tube that is held in a comfortable pen grip, this provides an increase in tactile sensation and control. Hence the appearance and the name: The Wand. One of my patients described it as a unilateral chopstick.
For more information on the wand CLICK HERE.
We can all ‘sneak’ in an Upper Posterior Buccal Local Infiltration in without the patient complaining, too much! The challenge is to do the tight tissue areas with the same level of comfort for our patients. I rarely achieved this objective when doing the anterior segment or the palate, as my patients used to regularly remind me. However with The Wand there is no longer any reason for my patient’s (or my) heart rate to rise as we get down to the dreaded (no longer) injection. For the needle phobic you can even convince them (with a certain amount of camouflage / disguise) that there is not a needle involved, at least not as they remember it.
My patients now report that there is very little impression of having an injection. Some will only book their next appointment once I have promised that I will only use The Wand and never use a syringe again. I am happy to give them that level of reassurance. The Wand has made my working life a lot less stressful while building loyalty with my Patients, resulting in a more pleasant experience for my Patients, my Nurse and myself.
This post was written by Dr. Mike Deasy for publication in Dentaltown magazine. We wish to give him a big thank you for giving his opinions on the Wand for us here at Dental Sky.
