Painless jab could end fear of dentist

Tthose agonising injections at the dentist may soon be a thing of the past, thanks to a British researcher.

Tthose agonising injections at the dentist may soon be a thing of the past, thanks to a British researcher.

Published Jun 10, 2011

Share

London - Those agonising injections at the dentist may soon be a thing of the past, thanks to a British researcher.

He has come up with a pain-free jab which is able to deliver an anaesthetic to the gums without the patient feeling it.

The stinging sensation that normally occurs during these injections is not actually caused by the needle, but acid contained within the anaesthetic. The solution has to be acidic so it can be stored for long periods and still remain effective.

Now Dr John Meechan, a senior lecturer in dental sciences at Newcastle University, has invented a syringe which enables the anaesthetic to be mixed with a neutralising solution just before it is injected into a patient’s mouth. This stops it being painful. Figures show that 70 percent of Britons are afraid of having an injection at the dentist.

They are usually administered into the gum or inner cheek just before a filling, tooth extraction or root canal treatment, which would otherwise be excruciatingly painful.

Dr Meechan said: “We think our idea has great potential to improve the comfort of dental injections, which will benefit all patients who need anaesthetics at the dentist.

“The whole idea was to make dental injections more comfortable for patients and we’ve done that by changing the delivery system.”

Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme, he added: “One of the things that causes pain during an injection is the solution in the cartridge, because the solution is very acidic and causes a stinging sensation.

“The needle causes very little pain.

“The reason the solution has to be acidic is purely and simply for storage purposes. It has to be stored as an acid, otherwise its components lose activity. As soon as you activate the [new] syringe the two solutions mix so you have a neutral solution. This is an unfussy way of doing it.”

The Smart Dental Injection won a Medical Futures Innovation Award at a ceremony in London this week. Dr Meechan hopes his invention will be mass-produced so it can be available to dentists across the country. Last year official figures showed that a fifth of women are terrified of the dentist, with more than half feeling nervous even the day before the appointment.

Statistics from the NHS Information Centre show that 19 percent of women suffer from extreme dental anxiety, which leads to some never making an appointment.

That is almost double the number of men - ten percent - who admit suffering from the phobia. Dentists say that in reality men are probably just as scared as women, but they just do not say so. - Daily Mail

Related Topics: