I apologize in advance but this is a little rant. In one of my previous post "I Hate the Dentist", I acknowledged the fear that many people have of the dentist. I do understand that the stigma attached to dentistry can lead to some anxiety before a dental visit. However, what really gets me is when people with tattoos and tongue rings tell me that they hate getting a shot. I always ask those patients, "Did that tongue ring or tattoo hurt?" 99% of the time the answer is NO, or not that bad. Now, I don't have, never had, and never will get a tongue ring, but I've bitten my tongue before and it hurt like crazy. For someone to sit and tell me that it doesn't hurt to have a steel bar jammed through their tongue without anesthetic is ridiculous! I admit, I do have a tattoo. I can tell you that it's not the most pleasant experience. It actually it HURT! Unlike a dental injection that hurts for a few seconds; the tattoo hurt from start to finish!
My conclusion is this. In MY HUMBLE OPINION people are more willing to go through an unpleasant experience when it's something they want to do. People get tattoos and tongue rings because they want to. People generally get root canals because they have to. Speaking on behalf of my profession, I believe that most dentist take every step possible to make the dental injection and the dental visit in general as comfortable as possible. Many of us use special topical anesthetics to make the shot less painful. Some dentist go as far as buying very expensive machines to deliver local anesthetic. We really don't want to hurt anyone.
If you do have a tongue ring or tattoo please think twice before you tell your dentist that you hate needles. For my patients with tongue rings and tattoos; I promise to still be as gentle as possible.
Dr. Michael L Chandler
Practicing General Dentistry in Edmond, Oklahoma
www.edmondsmiles.com
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2 comments:
It is funny that I just came across this subject today as I just now found your site. As you know, I have over 200 hours of tattoo work and am on the books for another 18 or so hours. Wile sitting in the tattoo studio I decided to try and figure out actually how many times the tattoo needle actually pierces the skin, and this is what I came up with. The average tattoo machine, if tuned well, will force the tattoo needle into your skin on average 200 times per second, or 200hz frequency. that works out to a whopping 720,000 times an hour. And that is for a single needle. As you have tattoos, you know that there are different needles for different parts of the tattoo. For instance, liners for doing fine lines, and shaders for doing shading and fill in work. Most artists use a 5 liner to do fine lines, that needle actually has 5 needles soldered together. So you now have to multiply the 720,000 times 5. Shaders, or mags as they are called, can have up to 44 individual needles all soldered together pushing into your skin 200 times per second. I personally have only had a 27 mag as the largest needle used on my body, but it was on my back piece, and it took 29 hours for the shading alone (The whole tat took 52 hours) so that comes out too 563 billion needle strikes into my back alone. For me, 1 stick in the mouth every couple of years is just fine for me. By the way, I am getting a squad of Lego Storm Troopers from Star Wars on my ribs.
Another side note about pain people don't understand. As you know,I have Crohns disease, and it is a very, very painful disease, with no relief for the pain, I use tattooing as my therapy. Although the pain getting a tattoo can be excruciating at times, I can always tell the artist to stop, and that alone my friend can be very empowering to someone who lives with pain every day. Something to think about.
Don
Your are a easy patient to work on. 720,000 sticks an hour is A-LOT. That's probably info I didn't need to know. It scares me to think of getting another tattoo. Just kiddin. Thanks for the post.
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