Painless Dentistry--Beating the Novocain
Hangover:
Sound incredible? Think you have to be a deep hypnotic subject? Not
really. Let me explain.
I've been practicing hypnosis since 1976. Yes, I have put people under
to the point they didn't even remember their name upon awakening, or
feel a needle going through a part of their hand (we don't do that
anymore since AIDS). My instructor, the late Harry Arons, taught us to
use the glove anesthesia technique for painless dentistry. Only
problem was that it only worked with somnambuls--those who could go
very deep hypnotically. See, there was this scale we used. It was one
thru six. Six was the deepest level where the hypnotic subject could
be suggested that upon awakening his eyes, he wouldn't see something
that was right in front of him (negative hallucination). To experience
glove anesthesia, the subject would have to reach deep stage of four
or lower. So only one out of every ten people could experience
painless dentistry. No wonder they sell a ton of Novocain.
Alright, I like to get all the
negatives out of the way because even after you just read the above
paragraph, you're probably still thinking, "OK, statistically I'm
probably not a good subject and I won't even have the benefit of
working with a professional hypnotist in person--just a cd and what
can that do?"
First,
the purpose of the first paragraph was to let you know that we're not
going to use some deep hypnotic thing with you to achieve painless
dentistry, otherwise, I'd have been writing about how you will get so
deep with this cd that your hand will feel like it has a heavy glove
on it and that you can feel nothing through that glove and that
whenever you position your glove hand next to your jaw you'll have that same
feeling of nothingness transferred to your jaw--that's what's meant by
glove anesthesia .
No, this technique would have to
work for me. You see, just because I've hypnotized a lot of people
doesn't mean that I'm a good hypnotic subject--I'd certainly like to
experience those deep states, but it's never happened. I volunteered
for stage demonstrations and while others on stage with me were
licking imaginary ice cream cones, I was checking out a good looking
woman in the audience (not any more since I'm practically married),
but I never forgot anything or could say that any of the suggestions
worked for me so I'm basically what most hypnotists would call a poor hypnotic subject.
In some regards I guess that's
good because I learned to specialize with those who deemed themselves
lousy subjects or were told they couldn't be hypnotized and succeeded
with wakened hypnosis.
Getting back to painless
dentistry. From even when I leaned how to use self hypnosis back in
1976 through the early 80's I always prayed for Novocain whenever I
had a filing done and cursed it for the next four or five hours as the
numbness wore off. But that was life and I wasn't going to try any of
this glove anesthesia stuff.
And then one day, my dentist
must have hit a nerve with the Novocain and my face was numb for
weeks. At the time I was doing two group sessions every night for four
nights every week and my voice was reduced to mumbling and tongue
biting. It got so bad, that the thought of speaking made my mouth
tense. It took a month of a lot of self hypnosis and self talk to get over
it and I never wanted to risk that experience again.
I remembered three things and
maybe read one or two more.
1. Even with Novocain, I did feel
something--I never felt NOTHING so I wondered how much worse could it
feel?
2. When I got tense and forgot to breathe the feelings
intensified.
3. My body was tensing because it perceived a physical threat to
my survival.
4. The dentist was not threatening my life as my subconscious
perceived.
With my experience in stress management using muscular tensing
relaxing methods to accomplish differential relaxation and breadth
management skills, I put together the painless dentistry program and
this is what it is.
So I'm going to tell you
everything (well almost everything)--you don't even have to buy the cd unless you'd like
guidance through the exercises to mastery.
First, I want to share with you the biggest
pitfall to success--your dentist or
his assistant. 99.9% of all their patients
use some sort of pain killer or drug--you'll be like an alien to them.
The dentist will be afraid that
you'll chicken out and he'll lose 15 minutes of his time having to
give you the shot and wait out the time. You know how it works. He
says, "hello, we'll fill the molar today, it'll just take a minute to
administer the shot," after which time he leaves for 15 minutes as the
anesthesia takes hold. Rather than twittling his thumbs for 15 minutes
as the anesthesia takes hold, he schedules himself to work with
another patient after which time he comes back, checks your progress
and starts his work.
What's going to happen if when
he comes back from the other patient, he starts working with you and you
need the shot--it messes up his schedule--a stressful day for him as
his wife's waiting dinner for him.
Now the assistant, even though,
I've been going to my dentist for years and years, never reads that
part in my file about no Novocain and always says, "he'll be back in a
moment and give you the Novocain." If you ask if anyone else
skips the Novocain or whatever drug, she'll be lucky if she can
remember one person in ten years.
I write all this because this is
really your only hurdle--convincing the dentist and his assistant that
you've got things under control. And he'll say, "well, if it gets too
bad, let me know and I'll stop and give you the shot."
Now most likely you wouldn't even be reading
this unless you have a problem with anesthesia as I did which
means you are highly motivated as I was and that's good, otherwise,
the doubts from the dentist and his assistant is enough to scare
Frankenstein.
To experience painless
dentistry, you only have three things to do:
1. Keep your muscles through out your body
relaxed. Tension in your feet will not help you one bit. Let your
whole body tense up like an iron bar and that intensifies pain.
2. Keep your breathing slow, deep, and regular. Usually in the midst
of stress, we forget to breathe and that simply magnifies pain.
3. Take control of your mind. I do that by flooding my mind with a two
word command that transfers what I feel to something I like. I allow
no other thought into my mind while my mouth is open.
Now about the program. You have
an idea as to what it's about. It has several parts:
1. Muscular relaxation exercises so you can
master the
art of differential relaxation. The total body relaxation exercise cd
does this too. Example, if you're washing your window, tension in your
forehead won't help matters except perhaps to give you a headache
later on.
2. Breathing exercises so you
can keep physically relaxed and not activate your fight or flight.
3. Mind flooding exercise using
the exact same thought to convert what in the past might have felt
painful to something acceptable.
4. Hypnotic relaxation to
counter the negative suggestions you might hear from the dentist or
his assistant.
Will it work for getting a
filing? Yes, I've have ten filings over the years--even in molars.
How about for caps? Yes, I've had three caps in
the last ten years--all in molars.
How about root canal? Yes, but I must admit, I had
my first root canal in 2003 and because of my dentist's urging went
with the Novocain. Never more--the next one will be my way.
Has my dentist ever had to stop
working because I had a problem maintaining my goals? Absolutely not.
All I have to do is remember those three things and that's it and I'm
a lousy hypnotic subject who experiences painless dentistry. Is that
an oxy moron? Order it now and get free of the Novocain hangover!!
Painless Dentistry cd $19.95 $14.77
