title: Mandibular block injections--the inner game.
abstract: This paper is a sequel to a previous article published in the April 1998 issue of this journal (1). Whereas the earlier work concentrated largely on the anatomy and geometry of the Gow-Gates block, the present paper is more directed towards the mental barriers encountered when a clinician is confronted by a whole new set of conceptual demands. Paradoxically, the concepts underlying the Gow-Gates technique are almost diametrically opposite to what has traditionally been taught in dental schools in relation to the inferior alveolar nerve block. The author's central hypothesis is that the explanation for indifferent results experienced by dentists in their first attempts at the Gow-Gates technique lies primarily in mindsets acquired from experience with the inferior alveolar block. It is suggested that the subconscious mind can be as powerful a determinant of human behaviour as the conscious mind, a position more in line with the findings of Freud and Jung than with the cognitivist vogue enthusiastically embraced by contemporary academic psychologists. It is further postulated that the subconscious is amenable to conscious guidance, a skill that can be enhanced by practice.
authors: Department of Anatomy & Histology, University of Sydney. watjohn@ix.net.au
authors: J E
authors: JE
authors: Watson
mesh_terms: D000766:Anesthesia, Dental / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003071:Cognition; D003815:Dentists; D006801:Humans; D008334:Mandible / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000294:innervation; D008340:Mandibular Nerve; D009048:Motor Skills; D009339:Needles; D009407:Nerve Block / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology; D013594:Syringes; D013850:Thinking; D014473:Unconscious, Psychology