Hardly anyone looks forward to a trip to the dentist and it's even worse when you're afraid of needles. Researchers from the University of Sao Paulo understood this predicament and so sought another way of delivering anesthesia without the use of needles.
In a study published in the journal Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces, the researchers shared their findings that could not only help improve dental procedures and provide millions with relief, but could also help save on costs and prevent infection and contamination.
According to Renata Fonseca Vianna Lopez, one of the authors for the study, administering anesthesia without a need facilitates application, improves patient compliance and reduces risks of intoxication in dental patients.
"This may facilitate access to more effective and safe dental treatments for thousands of people around the world," she said.
Anesthesia is necessary to block out pain when dentists carry out a range of procedures. As anesthetics are generally administered with needles, those afraid of injections have the tendency to postpone their treatment and even altogether cancel their trip to the dentist.
For patients afraid of needles, dentists turn to an additional step, giving them topical painkillers to lessen the pain in their mouth, and the associated fear brought about by needles. Topical painkillers can come in various forms but the most commonly used are hydrogels formulated with prilocaine and lidocaine.
For the study, the researchers investigated how topical painkillers can be administered more effectively as achieving success meant the possibility of doing away with needles altogether. Based on their findings, they saw that iontophoresis, a process involving the application of a tiny electric current, made anesthesia more effective, permeating the mouth's lining 12 times better.
The researchers are focused right now on dental anesthesia but they said the results of their work can also be applied in other areas, like cancer treatment.
Aside from iontophoresis, the researchers also turned to nanotechnology and sonophoresis, which uses sound waves, to find the best drug delivery method. They are now planning to come up with an iontophoretic device that can be specifically used in the mouth and devising a preclinical trial on the system to determine its effectiveness.
Other authors for the study include: Camila Cubayachi, Osvaldo de Freitas, Rene Oliveira do Couto, Vinicius Pedrazzi and Cristiane Masetto de Gaitani.
Photo: Conor Lawless | Flickr
