Dental News - Dentist helps save girl with special health challenges

Fred Michmershuizen, DTA

Mon. 17 August 2009

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NEW YORK, NY and GRAND RAPIDS, MI, USA: Sometimes dental treatment can be a matter of life or death. Just ask Dr Brian Nylaan of Grand Rapids, MI, who recently used his skill, expertise and compassion — plus an invaluable piece of equipment — to treat a special patient with unique needs.

Born with spina bifida, Catherine had been neglected. By the time the 11-year-old wound up in foster care, her internal organs were dangerously compressed. Her condition had become so dire that doctors feared she would not survive if they could not perform surgery. But before they would operate the surgeons insisted Catherine’s numerous dental infections be treated.

The problem was that Catherine, who had been heavily traumatized her whole life, would not let anyone near her mouth even for a cleaning, let alone for extractions or fillings. With no dental treatment there would be no surgery, and with no surgery she faced risk of death. The stakes were high.

Luckily for Catherine, she was in good hands with a compassionate dentist. Dr Nylaan, who knew that anything painful would be out of the question, first had his senior hygienists take all the time they needed to clean her teeth. Upon examination, he found several teeth that needed to be extracted. Knowing that a traditional mandibular block injection was out of the question, Nylaan used the Single Tooth Anesthesia (STA) system from Milestone Scientific to keep his patient comfortable.

“I had one thing going for me — one of her teeth was starting to hurt,” Dr Nylaan said. “So I looked at her, I got down on my knees, and I said, ‘I have this “nummy pen” here. It makes sounds and you will hear 10 bells. As I continued to work, she became more cooperative and the look on her face started to change a little bit.”

He was able to remove seven teeth for Catherine, who went on to receive the spinal surgery. It was a success, and today Catherine is much happier and healthier. Because she loves animals, she plans to someday become a veterinary assistant.

It was a pleasing outcome for Dr Nylaan, who sees is role as a dentist not only to treat teeth but to help his patients with their overall health.

“I would not have been able to treat Catherine without the ability to go in and numb up her teeth like I did,” Dr Nylaan said. “This machine really saved this kid’s life.”

With its STA System, Milestone Scientific is changing the way local anesthesia is being delivered today. STA allows a dentist to perform all of the traditional injections that can be performed with a hand-held syringe, but in a superior manner, said Dr Mark Hochman, who shares in the responsibility for inventing much of the technology currently available from Milestone Scientific.

“‘Painless dentistry’ doesn’t just mean you can perform the technique painlessly, it means you can also administer the local anesthesia painlessly as part of the procedure,” Dr Hochman said. “The STA system allows the dentist to do that.”

The Dynamic Pressure Sensing (DPS) technology used by the STA System allows the dentist to precisely and accurately control and monitor needle pressure during an injection. The system provides continuous visual and audio feedback, so the dentist can optimize the rate of drug delivery.

The good news for dentists is that they can get their patients anesthetized in a comfortable manner, Dr Hochman said. “It makes your excellent dentistry become an excellent experience for the patient, from the very beginning to the very end of the procedure,” he said.

“You can anesthetize a single tooth in the mandible with instant onset,” Dr Hochman said.

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