Perkins' Perfectly Painless Anesthesia

I was in Memphis in March giving a lecture. I asked the audience (about 50 dentists and staff) how many believed I could give a completely painless injection every time. Almost no one raised their hand. I was feeling particularly cocky that day.

I called for a volunteer. A female dentist, Elizabeth Lee raised her hand. I pulled a chair into the middle of the aisle and asked her to sit down. I shot her in the PDL and asked her if she felt any pain. She said, "No pain." I asked Chris Griffin, my host dentist, to spray endo ice on a cotton roll. It looked like a fire extinguisher the way Chris sprayed it. Vapor was smoking off the cotton roll. She felt sensation, I had missed the buccal furca, (try giving an injection with no light with the patient sitting in an auditorium chair, not easy). I re-injected and tried again. This time, no sensation, no pain.

Then I Popped her in the palate with my relatively painless Palatal anesthesia technique. She reported negligible pain.

The cotton rolls take care of soaking up the anesthesia. The taste of Septocaine is absolutely repugnant. Do everything you can not to let your patients taste it.

I use it to numb one tooth at a time but the way Septocaine tends to travel it frequently will numb adjacent teeth.

The injection lasts 30 minutes to an hour usually.

I developed the refined technique only about three weeks ago.

I traded shots in the palate with three dentists that month. Howard Glazer, Peter Norris and Chris Griffin. I call these guys my blood brothers. I have taken a shot to the PDL one time, (just for practice)

In my hands-on-workshops, I shoot the dentists in the palate. I still prefer the palatal injection when working on the upper.

Rapid, painless anesthesia is key to efficiency.