Most patients find getting the shot of anesthetic to be the least palatable part of their family dentist Indianapolis appointment. Hand-held transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) units are available that allow you to control how numb your tissues are. The anesthesia provided by TENS is enough for a comfortable teeth-cleaning and even for the placing of some restorations. If nothing else, you can use it to numb yourself while you are receiving your injection of local anesthetic for more extensive procedures. Unfortunately, TENS units do not work on everyone. If your dentist has one, you will need to experiment with it to find the proper setting; one that is too low is ineffective, and one that is too high can make the TENS effect uncomfortable in itself.
Many family dentist Indianapolis offices are now computerized for most business operations. Billing, scheduling, insurance filing, and many other accounting functions are automated in the modem practice. The computer has also found its way into diagnostic equipment and into the fabrication of some restorations. As we will see in chapter 8, subtraction radiography uses a computer to subtract one X-ray film image from another of the same area. Hie advantage of this is to make the films much more sensitive to changes in tooth structure or bone. Instead of needing a 30% change in density before detection is possible, subtraction radiographs are sensitive down to 5%. Computer assisted design/computer assisted manufacture (CAD/CAM) has entered the world of dental restorations. Metal or porcelain restorations may be created with one of these machines, which uses lasers to map the surface of the tooth. Through the use of sophisticated computer programming, a piece of gold or porcelain can then be milled to fit the exact shape of the prepared tooth. At present, this is still costly technology, so only a few dentists and dental schools have the necessary equipment.