You may have heard of dentists using Novocain to numb patients’ mouths, but Novocain is not actually used anymore. Modern dentists use much safer & more effective drugs such as Lidocaine. These are usually combined with other substances such as vasoconstrictors to increase the effectiveness & duration of the anesthesia.

There are two kinds of local anesthetics that dentists use to numb your mouth. The first is called a topical anesthetic, which is swabbed over a small area on the surface of your mouth or gums. In most cases, this is used to numb the area where the dentist plans to inject the other kind of local anesthetic. The injectable anesthetic is what we rely on to keep you comfortable & pain-free.

What Is Local Anesthesia?

Local anesthesia is used to make a very small, specific area of your body temporarily unable to feel sensations, including pain. Examples of procedures requiring local anesthesia include fillings, crown placement & root canals.

A local anesthetic works by blocking nerve cells in a specific area from sending pain signals to your brain. You can expect this numbness to last for two to four hours, which means you will probably still feel residual numbness after your appointment.

Before you undergo a procedure requiring local anesthesia, we will ask for information regarding any allergies & the medications you take. There is a possibility you might need a different formula if you have certain medical conditions. Call us if you have concerns or wish to know more about how we use local anesthesia.

What to Expect

Despite the numbness from the topical anesthetic, some patients feel a stinging sensation from the injection & think it isn’t working. In reality, this feeling is caused by the anesthetic drug entering the body & beginning to work. The stinging subsides within several seconds.

Side Effects

Local anesthesia does have side effects, but they are usually not serious. One well-known side effect is a temporary rapid heartbeat, which can happen if the local anesthetic is injected into a blood vessel. One of the chemicals used in the local anesthetic injection, epinephrine, can travel directly from the blood vessel to the heart. You may also know epinephrine by its other name: adrenaline. It is a naturally occurring substance in your body that can rapidly increase your heart rate. The fast heartbeat it causes can be alarming, but it is not dangerous & should return to normal in a matter of seconds.

Numbness

The numbness from local anesthesia will take a couple hours to wear off, which may inhibit proper speaking & eating. After your appointment, you’ll need to be careful about biting & chewing—you could bite your tongue or cheek & not feel it! You may also experience temporary swelling or drooping of parts of your mouth or face. Some patients find themselves unable to blink, though this is not something to worry about. The dentist can tape your eye shut so it won’t dry out. You’ll be able to blink normally again as soon as the anesthetic wears off.

In the past, dental x-rays were captured using a film process similar to an analog photograph. With the advent of digital imaging, computerized radiography has become the dental industry standard. Digital x-rays require up to 90% less radiation than conventional film-type x-rays, which were already fairly low risk to begin with. Instead of using the traditional silver-oxide x-ray film, which must be developed & then fixed in caustic & environmentally damaging solutions, the new system takes pictures via a small electronic sensor.

What Is A Digital X-Ray?

X-rays, also known as radiographs, have long been part of preventive care in dentistry. X-rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation that is invisible to human eyes. When scientists first discovered evidence of these electromagnetic rays, they weren’t sure what they were, so they called them x-rays, & the name stuck.

X-rays can pass through the soft tissues of the face & mouth (lips, cheeks, etc.) but are absorbed by the hard material of teeth & bone. This allows the dentist to see potential oral health issues that may not be easily visible from the outside. X-rays are used primarily to find cavities, but dentists also use them to look at tooth roots, to evaluate the health of the bone surrounding the tooth, to assess possible periodontal (gum) disease problems, to analyze tooth & jaw positioning & to keep track of development in younger patients.

Type of Dental Digital X-Rays

While there are several types of dental x-rays (including periapical & full-mouth), the most common kind of dental x-rays are called bite-wing x-rays, based on the wing shape of the films that were once used. These x-rays are done while you’re in the dental chair & capture an image of several teeth at a time, roots included. A dental team member will place a sensor in a certain part of your mouth & ask you to bite down while they aim a tube-shaped device at your face. This is the x-ray emitter, which sends the x-rays through your tissues & onto the sensor in your mouth. No light or heat will come from the emitter. There is usually no discomfort associated with getting dental x-rays.

The Advantage of Modern Digital X-Rays

One other big advantage of modern digital x-rays over the old film type is the lack of a lag time between taking the x-rays & being able to examine them. The x-ray picture of the tooth can be instantaneously transmitted onto a monitor in the treatment room so we can see your teeth & surrounding structures while you’re still in the chair. The immediacy of digital x-rays allows the dentist to assess the health of your teeth & identify potential problems right away. The dentist can easily point out potential trouble spots to you, allowing you to see & understand your oral health condition as the dentist explains it. The digital files are also easy to share with any other dental professionals who might be involved in your care in the future.

We encourage an open dialogue between our dental professionals & our patients. Like any health professionals, we are prone to doctor-speak, but we always strive to speak plainly & avoid jargon! If we ever say a word you don’t understand, please ask us to explain. We believe that the more our patients understand their care, the healthier their smiles will be.

Here are some frequently asked questions about dental care. Please take a look & feel free to contact us if you want more information on any topic.

Why do I need to see the dentist twice a year?

Our mouths are constantly changing depending on what we eat & drink, our habits & our age. Seeing a dentist regularly is the best way to catch a potential problem before it becomes a big deal. Not to alarm you, but lots of dental conditions don’t necessarily have obvious symptoms that you can rely on to spot something early. Dentists have the expertise & advanced tools to properly examine your oral health in a way that patients simply can’t do for themselves.

Not everyone needs to see the dentist every six months; some patients need to see us more often. Depending on your oral health situation, the dentist will recommend the frequency at which you need to visit us. Some patients see us every three or four months, especially if they have gum disease. If the dentist asks you to come in more frequently than you did in the past, please know that this advice is given with the idea of keeping you healthier in the long run.

Your regular visits are your best chance for keeping your teeth strong, clean & white & your breath fresh. Hygienists can remove stains that regular brushing & flossing & in-home whitening treatments can’t! Plus, we’re always happy to give you refresher training on the best techniques for your at-home oral hygiene routine.

Remind me, how often do I need to brush & floss?

You should be brushing your teeth twice a day & flossing at least once a day. Most people brush in the morning when they wake up & brush & floss at night before bed. If you want to brush after lunch too, we highly approve. When you brush your teeth it should be for a full two minutes. Make sure you get the back & front sides of your upper & lower teeth & their biting surfaces. Floss with about an arm’s length worth of floss, using a clean 2 inches for each tooth to prevent cross-contamination from one tooth to another. If you’d like the dentist or hygienist to demonstrate proper brushing & flossing technique, please just ask during your visit!

I’ve heard I don’t really need to floss. Is that true?

Don’t believe everything your hear in the news. It’s true that more studies are needed to solidify the connection between flossing & various effects on your oral health. But that doesn’t mean flossing is ineffective, it just means we need to know more. To us, the idea of not ever cleaning plaque & food out from between your teeth is scary, not to mention gross! Why would you want all that nasty stuff hiding away somewhere in your mouth, feeding bacteria & causing bad breath? You still need to floss everyday!

I brush my teeth & floss thoroughly every day. Do I still need to see a hygienist for a cleaning?

Yes! There is some stubborn tooth gunk that even the best brushing & flossing can’t get off. This is especially true of tartar, which is the hard substance that plaque can turn into if not cleaned off in time. Getting a professional scaling & polishing (the technical term for a teeth cleaning) by a hygienist can actually improve the appearance of your smile by removing stains. Polished teeth are also smoother & harder for bacteria to stick to, which will make your at-home brushing & polishing efforts more effective.

What causes cavities?

As children, we’re taught that eating too much candy causes cavities, so it must be sugar that causes tooth decay, right? Actually, that’s an overly simple way of explaining the process. Sugar is more like the fuel for decay & it doesn’t just come from sweet foods. When you eat, chemicals called enzymes in your saliva break down carbohydrates into sugars. These sugars—plus the sugar compounds that occur naturally in fruit & foods sweetened with refined sugar or corn syrup—are then eaten by the bacteria in your mouth. Unless you brush or floss them away, these bacteria hang out in your mouth, consuming the sugar & excreting a waste product in the form of acid. This acid is what eats holes in your tooth enamel & the softer dentin layer underneath, causing cavities & tooth decay.

At what age should children first visit a dentist?

Children should see the dentist when their first tooth comes in or by age 1, whichever comes first. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be caring for your baby’s oral health before then. After feeding, you can clean your baby’s gums by rubbing them gently with a damp washcloth. For more advice about caring for your baby’s mouth, please feel free to ask your pediatrician or us.

I’m very nervous about visiting the dentist. What should I do?

Tell us! The last thing we want is for you to be uncomfortable in silence. Being nervous at the dentist is not uncommon so don’t be embarrassed about it. Knowing that you are a nervous patient helps us prepare properly for your appointment. There are steps we can take to make you more comfortable during your visit. We can take things slower & explain more about what we’re doing at each step. We can work with you to develop a communication system so you can tell us clearly when something is bothering you or you need to take a break. Sedation is also an option in some cases & we’d be happy to discuss it.

One of the biggest ways we can help you overcome your nervousness is by working through it together. We want our office to be a warm, welcoming & pleasant place for you. The easier & less intimidating we can make your visit, the better we’ll be able to care for your oral health, now & in the future. If there is anything we can to do improve your experience, just ask. We promise you, you won’t be the first person who has brought up these concerns.

More Patient Education

• 3D Dental Imaging
• Digital Impressions
• Digital X-Rays
• Intraoral Camera
• Local Anesthesia