Dental News - Satisfying dentists and patients

Robin Goodman, DTA

Fri. 29 October 2010

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Although he’s been practicing 22 years, ever since he was in dental school, Dr. Steven Goldberg was convinced there had to be a better way to give an injection that removed the pain from the process itself. Most dentists wiggle the cheek or lip of the patient, which is only marginally helpful and provides more of a distraction than pain relief.

As a result, Goldberg looked to science and learned about the gate control theory of pain that was introduced in 1965. This theory explains that if you stimulate one area with a vibration, the vibration will travel to the brain much faster than the pain sensation.

Taking that idea, Goldberg proposed vibrating the lip during an injection, and that is how DentalVibe came into being.

This sealed, cordless device allows a dentist to deliver a painless injection and uses disposable tips. Fifty percent of Americans avoid going to the dentist because of a fear of pain, and more often than not, it’s more specifically the fear of getting an injection.

In light of this, DentalVibe was purposefully designed to look like a power toothbrush; the slight buzzing sound was intentional because it gives the patient something to focus on.

Even DentalVibe’s sequence of vibration was carefully planned. In order to stimulate the area of injection, you must reach deep enough into the tissue to reach the nerves, which is called amplitude. Ultrasonic devices have a short amplitude that does not reach very deep, but DentalVibe has a longer amplitude and uses a percussive, or tapping, motion.

This means you are massaging the tissue as you are doing the injection, which is key in order to reach the nerves.

Also, the VibraPulse technology used by DentalVibe effectively re-stimulates the nerves repeatedly. Thus, after much research, Goldberg discovered that one second on and a tenth of a second off was the perfect pulsation sequence for the mouth.

DentalVibe is patient-friendly, and this includes children because of the finger puppet attachment you may purchase for the tail end of the device. Children pick their favorite finger puppet (there are four) before the injection and take it home with them after the visit.

Many dentists are calling their local TV stations to tell them about the device and are then interviewed for a spot during the local news broadcast.

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