After using the QuickSleeper system for more than 10 years, Dr Andrew Prynne explains why its predictability is second to none.
Please introduce yourself
My name is Dr Andrew Prynne. I am a general dental practitioner based on the south coast of the UK in sunny Bournemouth. I have been in practice for 35 years now. Over that period of time I have enjoyed doing the dentistry that I have found interesting. About 10 years ago I discovered the concept of intraosseous anaesthesia and that’s why I’m sitting before you now.
What is the QuickSleeper?
It’s a dental anaesthetic system that uses a very specific needle design and electronic control over the delivery of this anaesthetic solution. This allows the delivery of not only all traditional techniques, such as infiltration, but also the full range of intraosseous dental anaesthetic techniques.
Now, intraosseous anaesthesia is a complete revolution in dentistry. It has the benefit of completely pain-free, immediate, deeply profound and predictable anaesthesia, but without any collateral numbness of the lips or the tongue or any other patient tissues.
So in this way, there’ll be no facial numbness, no loss of motor function and the dentist is able to start work immediately straight away with no delay. Astoundingly, a single injection is all that you need. For an extraction, for example, no secondary injections are needed.
It’s extremely efficient in dental practice due to its time saving. You know where you are, it’s predictable, you know how long it’s going to take for a patient to be numb. You can adjust your appointment times accordingly. I’ve got to say it’s also great fun to use and very satisfying.
What benefits does it bring to the practice?
The benefits are massive and multiple. They can be perceived by the patient, as I described by the clinician, but also by the dental business itself. There is indeed an initial capital expenditure. But this can be fully recouped within a matter of months by the increased time efficiency and by internal marketing.
The patients are so blown away that their word of mouth drives measurable increases in new patients, but also by your ability to use your genuine pain free treatments in your external marketing social media website.
One major benefit to the clinicians themselves is the huge reduction in stress levels. When I first started using the QuickSleeper some 10 years ago, I found that I no longer needed to wait to check if my patient was numb. I knew they would be as soon as I finished delivering the anaesthetic. I have not delivered an ID block in all of that time.
I’m no longer worried that I might cause my patients pain, it just won’t happen. So, as dentists, we can all identify with the stress felt by both patient and dentist when an anaesthetic fails, however numb the patient feels after an ID block. We’ve all experienced situations when the patient will feel pain on contact of the bur with dentine, for example, or during an extraction.
With intraosseous anaesthesia, I no longer check the tooth or the soft tissue prior to starting the treatment – I just get on with it. As such, my stress levels have reduced massively. I’ve often completed the entire treatment that I was planning in the time that I would previously have been waiting for the ID block to work.
Is there a learning curve involved?
Yes – I would be fibbing to you if I said that it wasn’t. Like all aspects of dentistry, the delivery of intraosseous anaesthesia is a sequence of technical steps. There are recommended protocols that if followed correctly, will ensure an efficient, effective and pain-free anaesthesia. There is a comprehensive training provided when investing in the system, which will make these protocols extremely clear.
New users inevitably are going to find little complications that occur early on in the use before they perfect the techniques. But these can be very quickly resolved by just reverting to protocols.
Every new user will have a closed Whatsapp group with Swallow Dental and the trainer so that clinician will never be alone questions will be answered and problems sorted out extremely quickly.
What initial training is provided? What does the training day involve?
An initial full day’s training is given, which includes a really interesting look at traditional techniques and why they can be suboptimal. Here, it’s demonstrated why even the best ID blocks fail and why, and is it the dentist’s fault? Of course, the answer is absolutely no – there are very significant anatomical reasons why an ID block will fail.
A comprehensive overview is then provided with the concept of intraosseous anaesthesia – what it is and how it works, and why it is so effective and predictable. A detailed explanation of how to perform an intraosseous anaesthesia with the QuickSleeper is given after which delegates get a chance to experience that hands-on themselves.
The day then moves through to a clinical setting, where chairside protocols are demonstrated and explained. Delegates can copy that for themselves. As I’ve mentioned, the training doesn’t just stop there. Delegates will have a personal link with their trainer for as long as they wish when they start to use it in their own practice.
After a few months of using it and when they become proficient, a masterclass training is available to them. During that training day, any problems that the clinician and any of their colleagues in the room have experienced can be discussed and solved. Techniques can be demonstrated to widen the use of intraosseous anaesthesia to all the other parts of the mouth. It ends up as a complete oral system oral anaesthetic system.
What ongoing support is available?
In addition to the closed Whatsapp group support that I’ve mentioned, we’re very lucky here in the UK to be supported by Swallow Dental. The customer support that I’ve had through the team at Swallow has been excellent if we have any problems with the hardware or technical aspects of owning the QuickSleeper.
If in the rare situation a problem develops with the device itself, Swallow Dental have loan units which they send straight out so you still have use of the system where yours gets repaired or serviced. That’s extremely valuable because like any other piece of equipment that you find yourself using 100% of the time as I have, you can’t work without it.
I have not given an anaesthetic with a traditional syringe now in over 10 years. You can imagine how I would feel if I didn’t have the QuickSleeper with me.
For more information please visit www.swallowdental.co.uk/quicksleeper-5-intraosseous-anaesthesia-delivery-system.html.
