Dental News - Buzzy device makes injections easier for kids

Fred Michmershuizen, DTA

Wed. 31 March 2010

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ATLANTA, USA: For children, getting an injection can be quite traumatic. That’s why most dentists would probably agree that just about anything that can done to make ‘getting a shot’ easier is certainly welcome. With that in mind, meet Buzzy—a reusable FDA class I pain relief device. It is the brainchild of Dr Amy Baxter, a paediatrician who developed it to ease the pain that children feel when getting shots at doctors offices. But it works just as well for dental injections.

“The physiology is pretty basic,” Dr Baxter told Dental Tribune America during an interview at the recent Thomas P. Hinman Meeting. “The combination of a frozen cold pack and vibration block the sharp pain nerves when pressed proximal to the pain.”

There is scientific evidence to back that up. Baxter and four other doctors conducted a randomised clinical trial, the results of which were published in the September/October 2009 issue of Clinical Journal of Pain. The study found that the combined cold and vibration sensations decreased injection pain ‘significantly.’

“The ‘wiggling the cheek’ thing dentists have always done is called gate theory nerve blockade,’” Dr Baxter explained. “Buzzy does the same thing but with added cold.” For palatal injections administered in a dental office, she said, simply press Buzzy to the maxilla or zygomatic arch. “It’s effective in about 15 seconds,” she said.

The reusable device looks like a bumblebee and has freezable gel pack “wings.” It’s available from MMJ Labs, an Atlanta-based company that also offers Bee-stractor cards that allow parents to get involved in pain distraction by asking their kids questions that are written on the back of the cards about pictures on the front.

One thought on “Buzzy device makes injections easier for kids”

Alexandria Nelson says:

December 6, 2019 at 6:23 am

I am an adult that has a buzzy device. I have a dentist apt coming up. How do I use the buzzy device before the novacain shot?

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