“The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”
By Chris “Dr Smile Maker” Branfield
You’ve Lost That Numbing Feeling
Hello again. I hope that you are well. Another busy month at Castle Park Dental Care. Life long learning is very close to my heart. “If you’re not growing anywhere you’re not going anywhere”. I think growing knowledge base is essential, even at my age. My colleague Andrew and myself was at a 3 -day dental implant conference in London a couple of weeks ago. It was the best one I’ve been to and I’ve been to loads. It was a bit off topic but there was a presentation on face transplants. Inspirational! I’m just back from another 3 -day advanced course. Some of it was outside my comfort zone as it involved computers for treatment planning. I got on with it though and managed OK. Surprised myself in fact. As they say, “ outside the comfort zone is where the magic happens”
You’ve Lost That Numbing Feeling. Is It A Sing Along?
A while ago I was asked to give an hour-long presentation at a small conference for dental practices. Now, my slot was on the morning of day two. The trouble is that there was a charity do the night before. So, there would be plenty of tired people in the room and I didn’t want them falling asleep if I could help it! Part of the presentation was be this topic (if I ever get onto it). I had taken the song “You’ve lost that loving feeling” and over dubbed “numbing” over “feeling”. Well, this did some doing for me, as I’m not a computer techy at all. It was all trial and error but got there in the end. It was a choice between The Righteous Brothers and Elvis Presley. I opted for Elvis as I was brought up on “ The King” and my dad wouldn’t forgive me if I chose against him
Oh Get To The Point!
Have you ever had a local anaesthetic? Sometimes you can feel like you about to fall over your face. Local anaesthetic is great. It allows us to have a load of stuff done in the medical field in a comfortable way. The only real drawback is that you can feel numb for quite a while sometimes. If you’ve had your teeth done you have to wait a bit to have a cuppa.
Nearly There
Now there is the QuickSleeper. This is a novel way to deliver a dental anaesthetic and numb up to 6 teeth in one go without the same numbing of the cheeks, lips and tongue. How good is that? Now, it does not replace conventional anaesthetic altogether, as it cannot be used in all situations and each case needs to be assessed properly, but I am using it more and more. It is a bit different. There is an element of vibration involved but it is all very gentle and feedback is very good. It is ideal for doing a few tooth restorations in different areas of the mouth in one go, especially if you’re struggling for time and want to get a lot done in one visit. Perfect for people that live away. Or those who cannot wait for a cuppa!
Most Gentle On The Planet
I was not quite accurate in what I said above. The quick sleeper can be used to numb up in a similar way to the conventional approach i.e. leave you feeling numb. However, as it is a computer controlled technology it is so gentle. This means pain free! I researched this quite a bit and have been on courses as I’m a dental anorak! However, it’s the quest for always looking for better. We have 3 of these things in the practice so we can ALL use them all the time and have one standard of care throughout. The feedback is incredible.
On The Clinic
My son, Edward, is still enjoying his course at university and has now started treating patients on clinics. It’s a really intense fast moving course. Non of this 4 hours “contact” a week. He’s all buzzed up. He comes back to see Hull City play with me. Come on City, see if you can stay up lads.
Until next time. Take care and be good.
Chris
