Helaine Smith DMD

Undergoing local anesthesia at the dentist office means one thing: numb gums for hours after your appointment. As a dentist, I know you hate when you feel like your lower lip is hanging down past your chin.

I’m very pleased to announce that our office now offers OraVerse. In official language, it’s an “anesthesia reversal agent.” In regular English, it means you can reverse the numbness associated with local anesthetics in about 30 minutes.

Average numbness can last 3 – 5 hours and can make it difficult to speak, smile, and eat or drink. If you’re a professional and need to get back to work to make a presentation or attend a meeting, you don’t want the after effects of local anesthesia.

OraVerse is a new product released earlier this year. In clinical trials with over 700 patients, there was no significant differences in adverse events versus control.

Be sure to ask for it the next time you’re in my office (or your own dentist’s office). I’m pleased to offer yet another way to increase my patients’ comfort.

It’s not often that really astounding news crosses my desk, so I am really excited to report that DMG America has introduced a product that gives dentists an option in treating cavities — one that requires no filling and drilling!

When I see decay on a patient’s tooth, I have two options: either “wait and see” if the decay develops further and if it does, “drilling and filling,” or I can offer patients a fluoride treatment to help delay the onset of a cavity.

Now with Icon(r), I can treat surface tooth enamel — without having to remove healthy tooth structure! According the company’s press release, Icon is a “micro-invasive infiltration technology that can be used to treat [the tooth's] surface. . . . In just one patient visit, Icon can arrest the progression of early enamel lesions” [dental speak for caries or cavities].

I know this information doesn’t sound that extraordinary, but trust me, it is!

You can learn more about Icon by visiting the company’s Website — using the aptly named URL, www.drilling-no-thanks.com. After you choose your country, click on the “For Patients” button where you’ll find animated illustrations of how the product works.

I’m very excited about this and will be ordering my supply this week!

When you sit in the exam chair at most dental offices, you look onto a tray of stainless steel dental instruments. It’s these instruments that raise your anxiety level — because let’s face it, who wants someone digging around in your mouth with these scary pointy things?

When you sit in the chair at my Boston dental office, however, you won’t see any instruments. That’s because I use a technique called “rear delivery,” which simply means that I keep my tray of instruments and other tools behind the dental chair, where you can’t see them.

Instead, you face a window where you’re bathed in defused natural sunlight. You hear music (usually something classical) and see/smell a fragrant candle burning. What all of this means for you is a soothing atmosphere that makes you feel calm and relaxed.

The patient who inspired the video below was one who was afraid to visit the dentist. In fact, she had put off her procedure for a couple of years because of her fear. After her procedure, she told me she was so relaxed, she almost fell asleep in the chair! It’s these types of stories that always make me happy.

If you’ve wanted cosmetic dentistry, such as dental implants, veneers or even reconstruction work, but have put it off due to fear of the dentist, please call my office. I assure you that once you see my office, you’ll understand why it’s not like any dental office you’ve ever visited — and that in itself will help lower your fear.

Do you not visit the dentist because just the thought of the needle scares you to death?

You’re not alone.

In this new YouTube video, I discuss how I ease patients’ fears by using the Comfort Control Syringe. It takes away the image of the big scary stainless needle and makes the injection almost painless.

In fact, when I use it, patients often don’t realize they’re receiving the injection. (This makes me very happy!)

A Yahoo News story today featured a new Japanese robot that will mumble “ouch” when a dental student touches a nerve.

Things have come a long way from working on a typodont! It was a set of plastic teeth attached to a pole that we would attach to our bench and practice on. It was very awkward and the teeth never had the same consistency as real enamel or dentin.

The robot is a great teaching aid for dental students to simulate a real patient from the beginning of their training. Incorporating robots and better simulation aided with computers is the way to better train dentists. This is just beginning of technology being incorporated in education. Kudos to the Japanese!

Dr. Helaine Smith’s Successful Smiles healthcast #4 | download

Did you know over 100 million North Americans are afraid to visit the dentist due to fear and anxiety? If you’re one of these people, this podcast is for you.

In this episode of Successful Smiles, I cover the reasons why people are afraid to visit the dentist and how new techniques, such as sedation dentistry, and new technologies, such as one-visit crowns and tooth bonding materials, have made many dental procedures virtually pain-free.

Links mentioned in this episode:

* American Dental Association
* Apple iTunes
* Helaine Smith, DMD

Send any questions about dental health, or suggestions for future podcasts, to helainesmithdmd@aol.com.