Research shows that one in four patients fear injections – and for one in ten, this fear is so strong that they avoid dental treatment altogether. The good news for dentists is that it is now possible to completely eliminate the pain of injections by using a simple, reliable and inexpensive device called Vibraject.

Vibraject, which attaches to a conventional dental syringe, has been used successfully in the USA for many years and is now on sale on this side of the Atlantic too through Vibraject UK.

The device is a little battery-operated vibrator which clips onto any dental syringe. When the needle pierces the gum two messages are simultaneously transmitted to the patient's brain – the vibration message and the painful 'needle prick' message. The vibration message arrives at the brain first – probably because it is carried on thicker and better insulated nerve fibres. The brain cannot cope with two messages arriving so close together and only registers the vibration.

With an entry price of just £299, Vibraject puts affordable, pain-free anaesthesia within the reach of every dentist in the UK and will finally remove one of the greatest barriers to the uptake of dental treatment.

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