Injecting Inside
the Mouth
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9CHAPTER
It is possible to treat a tooth without pain. You do this with an injection of
local anesthetic. You must inject near the nerve, so to give good injections,
you must know where the nerves are.
Injecting is a skill that develops with experience. The best way to learn is not
from a book, but from a person who has experience giving injections.
Watch an experienced dental worker give injections. That person
can then watch you and show you how to inject carefully and safely.
Local anesthetic is an injectable medicine. When it touches a nerve, the
tooth joined to that nerve feels numb or dead for about an hour. This usually
gives you enough time to take out a strong tooth or to put a cement filling
into a deep cavity.
WHAT YOU NEED TO INJECT
There are two kinds of syringes for injecting local anesthetic inside the
mouth. One is made of metal and the other is made of glass. The metal
syringe uses local anesthetic in a cartridge. The glass syringe uses local
anesthetic from a bottle.
dental (METAL) SYRINGE
This is a dental syringe. It uses special
needles, and the local anesthetic is sealed
inside a glass cartridge. After injecting,
safely dispose of the needle and the
cartridge. See pages 205 to 206.
GLASS SYRINGE
This kind of syringe is for injections of
medicine like penicillin, but you can use
it in the mouth. Sterilize the syringe and
needles (pages 88 and 138) before and
after each use. When sterile, the needles
are ready for another person.
Before you inject, be sure
the local anesthetic is able
to come out of the needle.
Use a new needle and a new cartridge of local
anesthetic for each person.
Be careful! Do not touch the needle.
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