Patient and dentist satisfaction with a computerized local anesthetic injection system.

The fear of dental injections is common among dental patients. Many approaches to reducing this fear of injections and improving local dental anesthesia delivery have been tried in the last few decades. One approach is the use of a computerized or electronic local anesthetic system. This study surveyed dentist and patient satisfaction when local dental anesthesia was delivered with a computerized delivery system. The patients and dentists were both satisfied with the effectiveness of the anesthesia. The patients were satisfied with the level of comfort with the injections. This was particularly true when compared to their previous anesthetic injections. Although the dentists were very satisfied with the performance of the anesthetic delivery system and the anesthesia itself, they did not, in general, choose to use the system in everyday practice. Possible reasons for this within the context of this study are discussed.