Chelsea Pediatric Dentistry wants your child’s dental visit to be a positive and comfortable experience for both of you. We are constantly implementing new technology to help us achieve that goal. In order to treat your child’s tooth without pain he/she needs tooth numbing/local anesthesia. Traditionally, local anesthesia was administered with a needle. The numbing done with the needle numbs the entire area around the tooth including the lips and gums. This kind of numbing is associated with an increased risk of post-operative trauma from lip/cheek biting. While there may be some procedures requiring traditional injections, the STA is available as an alternative either with or without the use of Nitrous Oxide. STA is Single Tooth Anesthesia. STA is a computerized sensor-controlled local anesthetic delivery system that anesthetizes only the tooth being treated via an intraligamentary “injection” that consists of gently sliding a small probe alongside the tooth in the small crevice between the tooth and the gums.
What are the benefits of the Wand/STA?
- No need for the traditional dental syringe (“the shot”), thus reducing patient’s initial anxiety
- Injection is much more comfortable and less painful for the patient due to precise control of anesthetic flow rate
- Only the single tooth being worked on is anesthetized, thus decreasing post-operative numbness and the possibility of lip-biting
- Quicker onset of anesthesia. No waiting period necessary to allow the numbness to take effect. Treatment begins immediately
