Something to stop dental injections hurting

collectors

Is there somthing to stop dental injections hurting. I have no problem with injections any ware except my gums, but to have a dentist say "relax" when somthing is so painful to me. I have nearly pulled the arms off the dentist chair & the dentist doesn't realize how painful it is. Once i had had the injection, i am fine & can nearly fall asleep. Any suggestions.

FindMyWayBack

They can put a numbing agent on the gums before the injection, also a lot is down to the skill of the dentist, a little, then the rest. Take pain killers before you go.

brook2jack2

There are various things you can do , and a few things the dentist can do. This gives a good overview https://www.dentalfearcentral.org/fears/needle-phobia/

collectors

FindMyWayBack said:

They can put a numbing agent on the gums before the injection, also a lot is down to the skill of the dentist, a little, then the rest. Take pain killers before you go.

I have taken Tramadol before going & still hurts like ????.

collectors

brook2jack2 said:

There are various things you can do , and a few things the dentist can do. This gives a good overview https://www.dentalfearcentral.org/fears/needle-phobia/

Hi, as i said in the original post "injections dont bother me at all" but hurt like hell when given in the gums.

brook2jack2

FindMyWayBack said:

They can put a numbing agent on the gums before the injection, also a lot is down to the skill of the dentist, a little, then the rest. Take pain killers before you go.

I have taken Tramadol before going & still hurts like ????.

Pain killers will not do anything for the discomfort of an injection. Have a read of the dental fear links above. 

The important thing is the adrenaline that will be pumping through your body will have a physical effect on "overloading" the pain receptors. The more you can do the decrease the anxiety before you go the easier it will be. Relaxation techniques to learn and practice before you go will make a lot of difference. 

If your body is prepped up for "fight or flight" then because the pain receptors are overloaded then even pressure gets transmitted as pain. The lower you can keep the chemical "alert" messages in your body the less it will transmit pain and the easier it will be for you. 

Toothsmith

Huuuuuuuggggggeeeee subject this!!!!

There are numbing gels, skill of dentist is a factor, there are even fancy delivery systems like 'the wand' and similar.

But, to my mind, the biggest factor is always 'how relaxed is the patient'?

So - if any of the above things makes the patient feel more relaxed - then they will work. If the patient is still as tight as a loaded bungee cord - then they will always feel something.

When you're tense, and 'gripping the arms' and every muscle in your body is as tight as you can make it, in anticipation of pain - then I've even had patients scream just by slipping the mirror under their lip to hold it back!! Every stimulus, whether painful or not is interpreted by the brain as a pain signal - because that is the only thing it's waiting for.

The trick, I find, with a tense patient is to spend a couple of minutes on relaxing them at the start. I don't let patients 'hang on' to the arms. I'm not keen on them clasping their hands. Especially if when they do, the knuckles go white! I get them to lay their arms on the arms of the chair with palms up (That way there is nothing to grip!) I then get them to try relaxing and breathing and maybe listen to the radio - whatever I can to just take the tension out of the muscles and get a bit of oxygen into them! Only when I feel they've unwound a little would I then actually do the injection. 

It's all about unwinding whatever vicious circle got you to where you are now. 

Little tricks and gadgets can help start  this process - but ultimately it's about finding a dentist you trust, and sticking with them over the long term.

collectors

brook2jack2 said:

FindMyWayBack said:

They can put a numbing agent on the gums before the injection, also a lot is down to the skill of the dentist, a little, then the rest. Take pain killers before you go.

I have taken Tramadol before going & still hurts like ????.

Pain killers will not do anything for the discomfort of an injection. Have a read of the dental fear links above. 

The important thing is the adrenaline that will be pumping through your body will have a physical effect on "overloading" the pain receptors. The more you can do the decrease the anxiety before you go the easier it will be. Relaxation techniques to learn and practice before you go will make a lot of difference. 

If your body is prepped up for "fight or flight" then because the pain receptors are overloaded then even pressure gets transmitted as pain. The lower you can keep the chemical "alert" messages in your body the less it will transmit pain and the easier it will be for you. 

I got to be honest that i dont believe anyone should have to suffer the barbaric ways dentist work. A dentist i had years ago would take the time & syringe the novocaine onto her glove  & rub it around the gum area & leave it for a minute before injecting. This would help quite a bit. Try going into a dentist & tell them what to do, especially when many cant even speak good English.. Most of the time, they just say relax. "Then it hurts like hell"

brook2jack2

Please take the time to read https://www.dentalfearcentral.org/fears/needle-phobia/

by far the biggest barrier to comfortable injections is your anticipation and reaction to them . Rubbing local anaesthetic from a syringe into the gums does nothing physically. It cannot get through the gums however long you leave it. However the fact the dentist did this and you felt it would work made the injection less uncomfortable, the rubbing on would do nothing at all. 

Topical anaesthetic that is placed on gums is completely different to the stuff in the syringe and can , to a certain extent, numb some of the gum. 

thepurplepixie

My dentist always uses the numbing gel.   I'm not nervous about the dentist and I suppose because I'm relaxed I don't find it very painful so not sure I need the gel, my old dentist never used it.  My DH has found it very useful, he had a sadistic dentist as a child in the 50s, it became well known locally that he was great with adults and girls but little boys he liked to torture so my DH was always very nervous.  20 years with our dentist and he is almost relaxed, at least he isn't terrified.