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Serious issues with numbing treatments, can you help me please?

Hi, i am terrified of going to the dentist, in the past the dentists that i have seen have had problems numbing me for treatments that i have needed. The injection itself doesnt bother me however having procedures undertaken under an inadequate anaesthetic does. The last two times i went i had 6 local anaesthetics, 2 of which were into the nerves (apparently my nerves branch into 2) having the nerve injected was extemely painful. I havent been for a couple of years. I now have a tooth missing as it crumbled following a root canal, i have a cracked tooth, and have toothache in a tooth which has a very large filling which last time my dentist said may end up needing a root canal. I know i need to go but i cant bear to pick up the phone. My doctor prescribed me diazepam, but that hasnt helped me to make an appointment. My fear i feel is mainly due to ineffective anaesthetic which means that procedures are painful, and i then end up having nerves injected which is awful, i also dont like the sound of the drill either, as ridiculous as it sounds as soon as i hear a drill i immediately tense up. My ideal would be to have a GA to wake up and have had it all sorted out however i understand that dental procedures arent often done under GA, any advice would be fantastic

Hello Im sorry for your bad experiences .
some treatment is done under Ga , but its usually extractions , or special needs patients .
Its not unusual for a block injection to numb back teeth to either need much more anaesthetic , or some people need much longer time to go numb . This is almost always lower back teeth .
Sometimes waiting for teeth to be acutely painful can be a bad idea as they can be harder to get to go numb
IV sedation can help , and you could have several items of treatment done .
However the most important thing is to tell the dentist that this is a problem for you, Its possible to give you an extra dose straight off , get you to wait a while , let you have some control with stop signals .
Sedative tablets before the appointment will also help

Answer provided by: Dr Jennifer Pinder Retired
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