In: Anesthesia
29 Oct 2009Fear of the needle has been reported as one of the major causes of apprehension in dental patients. Patients have reported that the feeling of the needle being inserted into the tissue is a chief source of anxiety. Empirically, it makes sense to attempt to reduce this source of anxiety and assure the patient that [...]
In: Anesthesia
28 Oct 2009Sedation combined with local anesthesia is a safe alternative to general anesthesia because spontaneous reflexes and patient cooperation are retained while fear and apprehension (common reasons to delay dental care) are reduced. Local anesthetic techniques are often complemented by the balanced use of low doses of analgesic and sedative/hypnotic drugs to provide analgesia, anxiolysis, and [...]
In: Anesthesia
27 Oct 2009Patients in the 2 groups were similar with respect to age, height, weight, gender distribution, and length of surgery (Table 1). There were no significant differences (P = .05) in age, weight, blood pressures (systolic, diastolic, mean arterial), pulse oximetry oxygen saturation, pegboard tests between the 2 groups at the various time intervals measured (Table [...]
In: Anesthesia
26 Oct 2009Forty-five healthy male or female patients aged 18-55 years scheduled to undergo surgical removal of an impacted mandibular third molar were eligible for participation in the study (see Table 1 for demographic data). All patients required bone removal and suturing. Exclusion criteria were as follows: pregnancy or lactation; use of anticoagulants, analgesics, or any central [...]
In: Anesthesia
25 Oct 2009Pstoperative pain following surgical removal of a mandibular third molar is a validated, well-documented, and highly sensitive model to assess therapeutic relief of moderate to severe pain. Despite the availability of potent analgesics, postoperative pain remains a routine problem in ambulatory oral surgery. Following surgical removal of impacted third molar teeth, pain intensity is said [...]
In: Anesthesia
24 Oct 2009With respect to postoperative pain, the 2 subjects who were reperforated (1 Stabident and 1 X-Tip™) could have had a small effect on postoperative pain. However, it is very unlikely that the administration of an additional 0.3 mL of anesthetic solution for the infiltration would have had an effect on postoperative pain.
For the Stabident and X-Tip™ techniques, needle insertion for the infiltration injection, into alveolar mucosa, resulted in mild pain ratings, with 2-10% of the subjects reporting moderate pain and no reports of severe pain (Table 1). The mean VAS ratings were 34 for the Stabident technique and 28 for the X-Tip™ technique, which would be [...]
Blog invites submissions of review articles, reports on clinical techniques, case reports, conference summaries, and articles of opinion pertinent to the control of pain and anxiety in dentistry.