No more ouch
I’ve just been to the dentist for a filling. This isn’t my first, and I usually dread visits to the dentist as dental work usually means excruciating pain—the anaesthetic injections didn’t appear to work properly.
However, I had noticed that I was extremely numb in the affected area for several hours afterwards. I discussed this with my dentist, and for this treatment, we decided to leave it a lot longer than normal between injection and rilling.
I went in for the anaesthetic at 0930, and was given a largish dose of (presumably) Lidocaine. I then went for a walk in town, returning an hour later. By this time most people’s numbness would be starting to wear off, but mine had only just taken full effect.
The drilling was almost, but not quite, painless—certainly a vast improvement on previous treatment. The anaesthetic didn’t wear off until around 1430, five hours after administration. Until then, I was speaking like a stroke victim, and unable to drink without drooling.
It seems that some people, like me, have an abnormally long onset time for the anaesthetic. If this sounds like you, maybe you need to discuss something similar with your dentist.