Fighting dental pain

AUSITN (KXAN) - Who likes to go to the dentist? Thought so.

Some 15% of Americans, adults and children, skip their annual visit because of fear of pain and the needle. It's call dental phobia.

Now there's a solution. Something called the DentalVibe .

Nine year old Christina Canavas dreaded going to the dentist. She says, "I was really nervous because I didn't like when they would give me the shot. It was painful, I didn't like it."

On her recent visit to Dr. Juan Guiterrez in Manor, he used the DentalVibe on Christina. It's vibrations literally block the sensation of pain.

The dentist explains, "That vibration travels to the brain faster than the pain does. So your brain perceives the vibration but doesn't see the pain from the actual injection."

Dr. Guiterrez has been using the DentalVibe since December and his appreciative patients have taken notice.

"There's several patients that didn't want to get any treatment but I showed them that, they were encouraged and now they keep coming back for work they need done."

Count Christina among them.

She says, "It went so much better, a lot better when they gave me the shot." Asked if she felt any pain, she replies, "Nope."

She's even looking forward to her next visit, "I'm going to be pretty happy because I don't have to feel that, because it hurt a lot before."

Dr. Guiterrez calls it a win-win, "For us we get to bring in those patients that are afraid and they're not afraid anymore. And those patients get the care they need."