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Two choices: Pain or No Pain?

Which would you prefer?

Like it or not, pain is what many people think of when they think of coming to the dentist, but here more than ever dentistry is making huge advances.

A tool not many people know about is called the “Wand� or “Compudent.�  Essentially it is a computer-controlled dental injection. The flow rate of the local anesthetic is controlled by a computer. This means that the injection is guaranteed to be slow and steady and therefore comfortable.

Most people who have had a bad experience with injections think that needles sting because the skin is pierced, but this is usually not so! Most often, the sting was caused because the anesthetic was fired in too quickly. Obviously, it is possible for a dentist to control the speed with a standard syringe, but the idea of the Wand is to take out the “human error”. This can be very reassuring for people with previous bad experiences.

 

What does the Wand look like?

 

It doesn’t even look like a syringe! Welcome to the space age…

As you can see in the photo, the “hardware” looks similar to a miniature computer tower.

The handpiece device looks just like a ball point pen.

It is even held like a pen! Using the Wand is far easier to use because it is so light and easy to handle.  One of the reasons I like using the Wand is its accuracy.  As you can see, my hand is very close to the tip (yes, there is still a needle albeit a small one), unlike a traditional syringe where my thumb can be as much as 8-10 inches away from the “working end.�

Once I’m ready to dispense the anesthetic I have a small foot pedal to get started and that’s it!

Our patients routinely ask about the Wand and we find their friends that are new to the office are also asking about the Wand as well.

Dr. Crosby