The pain (and expectation of pain) of getting a local anesthetic injection can cause significant anxiety for many patients. Anxiety surrounding pain is the main reason many patients avoid going to the dentist when they have an oral health problem. Besides just improving the patient’s rating of their experience, better pain control before injections can lead to better oral health as well. Patients who experience less pain at their appointments…

Chronic periodontitis affects about half of the adult population over 30 in the United States. Despite the efforts of dentists and organizations advocating for good oral hygiene habits, periodontal disease is still extremely common. Scaling and root planing is the standard procedure used for reducing the severity of chronic periodontitis. However getting patients to return for the multiple sessions needed to see results can be difficult. The deep cleaning of…