Dental treatment without pain. Is it possible?

Dental treatment without pain. Is it possible?

To answer this question in one sentence: Yes, it is possible!

There is even a wide range of options to achieve painlessness, so there is something suitable even for true anxiety patients who cannot undergo dental treatments due to severe fear.

Dental anxiety is very common. I would even say that, in reality, everyone is somewhat anxious. Let’s be honest, no one truly feels completely comfortable at the dentist. The level of fear just varies from patient to patient. 

The most commonly used method to achieve painlessness is called local anesthesia. In this process, the area to be treated is numbed with an anesthetic. To do this, the anesthetic must be applied as close as possible to the treatment site, which is typically done using a syringe. I know many patients are especially afraid of the syringe, but a lot has changed recently. Nowadays, there are significant improvements compared to the past. Firstly, the needles have become extremely thin, so the injection is barely noticeable. Secondly, there are now computer-assisted anesthesia techniques that inject the anesthetic very slowly and at a constant pressure, allowing for a very gentle and smooth administration of anesthesia.

When does an injection hurt? It’s always when the practitioner is in a hurry and injects the anesthetic too quickly. So, by administering the anesthesia slowly and possibly even numbing the injection site with a bit of ice, I can promise you won’t even notice the injection.

But there are also patients who are not necessarily afraid of the injection itself but find their imagination to be the bigger problem. These patients prefer not to be aware of the treatment as much as possible. If dental anxiety is more severe, you can take it a step further.

Through intravenous administration, for example with Propofol, a procedure called sedation can be performed. Sedation can be thought of as a kind of sleep state: as the practitioner, I can still talk to you, but after the treatment, you won’t remember anything.

This is a very effective and elegant option, especially for smaller, shorter surgical procedures, such as a tooth extraction or the placement of a single implant.

If the treatment takes longer and the need is more extensive—for example, if we’re performing tooth extractions, placing implants, and perhaps even doing bone grafts in one jaw—general anesthesia is a suitable option. As with sedation, an anesthesiologist monitors you throughout the procedure, ensuring that the anesthesia is handled by professionals, which is extremely important to me. The great thing about general anesthesia is that all necessary surgical treatments can be completed in a single session, allowing you to essentially “sleep through” your treatment.

As you can see, there’s really no need to fear pain in our dental practice. We have solutions for every situation, and for more extensive treatments, which we perform quite frequently, our patients are often grateful for the option of sedation or general anesthesia.
 We work with a very kind and, above all, highly competent anesthesiologist.

If you have larger treatments coming up but are perhaps too afraid of the pain, it’s best to get advice from us at the practice. We are happy to help you as well.

Warm regards,
Your practice team at Dentoss