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Mid-90s injection of inside of cheek

M

merlin

Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2010
Messages
29
Location
UK
My fear of dentists stems from a single event, when I was about 10, when a dentist injected the inside of my cheek for a filling. I remember him coming at me with an enormous syringe - like 30cm long - and trusting it into my inside cheek about half way up (not low down oddly). There was no numbing gel used - I don’t think it was popular back then. The injection took about 3 seconds, I screamed my head off and then my cheek swelled up. I had to go sit in the waiting room, probably to make sure I want having a reaction. The next day my cheek was badly bruised, enough that my teachers enquired as to “who punched me”. The pain during the injection was comparable to a wasp sting (and I’m allergic to wasps).

I’ve since learned that this experience is unusual and I’m unlikely to have a similar one. My question is, what’s the thinking behind what the dentist did? And why inject the middle of the cheek?

The anaesthetic didn’t do that much either - I’ve had fillings since without any anaesthetic so I know what that feels like.
 
Is the injection in the middle of the cheek ever a useful thing to do?
 
Injecting in the middle of the cheek is not a local anaesthesia technique (hence the "no idea")...
 
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