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phobia/fear of numbness after injection

R

robyn905

Junior member
Joined
May 23, 2011
Messages
1
Hi
I would like to share my experience of dealing with the fear of numbness at the dentist. I was unlucky once during a routine filling to swallow some drips from the syringe of the 'novocaine' and this caused a strange feeling of numbness and choking sensation in my throat during the procedure and for about two hours afterwards until the general numbness wore off. I was traumatized by this as I already suffer from panic attacks and even suspected I may have an allergy to the stuff and wanted to avoid it again. However my next 6 month check up discovered the necessity of another small cavity being filled and I in turn was filled with dread at a repeat of the last time. My dentist assured me I definitely did not have an allergy and the feeling of choking was exacerbated by my underlying anxiety condition, but he did admit that swallowing some liquid from the syringe had probably contributed to the unpleasant numb obstructed feeling in my throat. Not dangerous but not at all pleasant!

Thankfully I have an understanding and patient dentist who offered a lot of reassurance and did everything in his power to ensure no drips escaped the cartridge! This involved putting cotton swabbing around the area of gum to be injected, and he also took a very long time, almost 5 whole minutes, to empty the syringe very slowly and carefully. Just to be on the safe side I rinsed and gargled before my treatment.

I'm happy to say I got through the procedure with no untoward side effects and not even a suggestion of throat discomfort. I hope this helps anyone who may have had a similar experience at the dentist and may even have avoided treatment ever since.

Yes dental numbness feels strange, uncomfortable, unconsciously sets off anxiety alarm bells, but it is in no way dangerous or harmful-please be reassured.:)
 
It is also possible to limit the anesthesia to a very small area where you almost can't tell that you are numb
 
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