Guidelines for the administration of local anesthesia in fearful dental patients.
Fear of dentistry is a major problem for patients and dentists. Fear of local anesthetic injections is one of the most common fears reported by dental patients. It is imperative that local anesthetic injections be administered to dental patients in the context of treatment of the patient's fear. To try to "get through" the injection without addressing the patient's fear is to risk perpetuating or increasing the fear and missing an opportunity to help patients overcome their fear of dentistry. This article describes principles for treatment of dental fear. An injection technique is described that can be used in conjunction with the treatment of a patient's fear and represents a part of that treatment. This "low pain and anxiety" injection technique can be used with any patient.
Glassman
P
P
UOP School of Dentistry, San Francisco, CA 94115, USA.
Peltier
B
B
D000766:Anesthesia, Dental / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology; D000772:Anesthesia, Local / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology; D016854:Dental Anxiety / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003812:Dentist-Patient Relations; D006801:Humans; D007267:Injections / Q000523:psychology