Ancient Chinese practices, oils extracted from flowers and ‘ying-yang’ relaxation therapies may have sounded out of place at a dentist’s chair, but not anymore. A Chennai centre is now performing the most dreaded dental procedures without sedation, using acupuncture techniques to numb the nerves instead.

However, conventional acupuncture needles have been replaced with electrical leads and dentists further enhance the ‘mood’ with essential oils of jasmine and rose and soft music.

“Most dentists use sedation to perform dental procedures on patients who are too terrified even of taking an anaesthetic injection to the gum. We are forced to give them general anaesthetic or intravenous sedation, for simple extractions, cleaning, fillings and filings,” says Dental Clinic While sedation ups procedure costs by Rs.4,000 to Rs.5,000, it also requires the presence of a qualified anaesthesiologist and involves the use of a drug, which is not advised for small children, old people and patients with certain medical conditions.

“This is why we adopted this method of putting patients to sleep by using acupuncture. There are certain nerve meridians in the body that, when stimulated, produce the calming effect of sedation,” explained Dr. pointing out that it is a completely safe procedure that has the patient walking out feeling calm and refreshed.

While major surgeries will require anaesthetic, applying pressure on these nerve points as a preparation will enable the doctor to reduce the dosage of the drug.

Only felt a mild vibration from the electrical leads that were strapped on to his arms and neck.


Keywords: anaesthetic injection,mild vibration,intravenous sedation, Ancient Chinese practices,ying-yang’,anaesthesiologist