I’m assuming you’re referring to the dangers of being “put under” right? Another commenter mentioned local anaesthetic… I don’t think dentists are shying away from that and it seems appropriate for these situations.
I’m not even sure local anesthetic would be possible in the way that you mean. Novocaine is used to target mapped nerve bundles to temporarily shut down about 1/8th of the jaw’s nervous systems. This isn’t really possible for the region in question due to overlapping nervous regions and the location of the nerve clusters. There are topical creams that could be used but this would just numb the skin and from accounts it sounds like most of the pain experienced is the result of muscular distress. Epidurals exist but this is still a pretty invasive and dangerous procedure for a routine checkup that may result in as much pain as it would relieve.
Frankly less physically invasive exploratory techniques such as fiber optic probes similar to those used in laparoscopic surgery would be a much safer, if more expensive and less thorough, option for those that experience distress.
I’m assuming you’re referring to the dangers of being “put under” right? Another commenter mentioned local anaesthetic… I don’t think dentists are shying away from that and it seems appropriate for these situations.
I’m not even sure local anesthetic would be possible in the way that you mean. Novocaine is used to target mapped nerve bundles to temporarily shut down about 1/8th of the jaw’s nervous systems. This isn’t really possible for the region in question due to overlapping nervous regions and the location of the nerve clusters. There are topical creams that could be used but this would just numb the skin and from accounts it sounds like most of the pain experienced is the result of muscular distress. Epidurals exist but this is still a pretty invasive and dangerous procedure for a routine checkup that may result in as much pain as it would relieve.
Frankly less physically invasive exploratory techniques such as fiber optic probes similar to those used in laparoscopic surgery would be a much safer, if more expensive and less thorough, option for those that experience distress.