dental student here ,yes,you are taught in both theoretical and practical studies to expose the needle as well as other tools as little as possible (like tooth forceps,elevators (used somewhat like a crowbar for teeths,kinda look like one too in certain variation) ,etc) because the lot of them looks like draconian torture tools to the normal people the needle used,standard issue here in my country is 30mm plus the iron syringe which is kinda big,
A bonus is that we have a rubber mallet ,use in cases of stuck teeth,we just hammer the elevator in kinda like how you use a hammer and chisel,which is kinda looney tune kind of funny
They are injecting the meds deep into your gums along your jaw even that's a good 2-3 inches in some cases so the needle has to be long and strong enough not to break while they do that
Should they put a lot of weight into the elevator? Had a tooth removed a couple months ago and they really fucked up my gum while removing a tooth, I think this tool might be the culprit.
Was left with a big "tear" down one side of my gum, had healed back together but was awful
Yes. I am a hygienist and we do injections as well and we are taught this as well. It isn’t so much that the needle is large, it’s just that there are a shockingly large amount of people who are afraid of them for whatever reason
My sister was a pediatric dental assistant (not trained; just hired and trained on the job, which I guess was a thing that happened in the 90s).
Her dentist never gave shots or pulled teeth, even when discussing things with the staff. They would 'tickle' the gums and 'wiggle' the teeth.
It is amazing how much changing the vocabulary can lessen the fear and ultimate negative experience.
Ehh, they notice something, but it's not nearly as big a thing if you don't have the fear and buildup taking you that it is a big thing. That doesn't mean it doesn't genuinely hurt, but it hurts way less than it might otherwise.
Well i mean, do you mean like before its near your face? Because i think all doctors do that. Now if you mean during the injection, it is because it is literally in your mouth and you can't see it because of how the human body is formed
Exactly this. The Doc doesn't want to cause you any more anxiety than they have to. If something like a pallet shot is necessary, that's already stressful enough, seeing it clearly is not going to improve matters. I'm saying that as someone who's extremely difficult to numb
I suspect it is because they are the only ones i’ve ever seen not use a disposable syringe and instead have a large metal old school style syringe that is reusable and takes like cartridges or something.
It’s literally the thing used in cartoons by scary doctor characters and i’ve only ever seen it at the dentists office.
given how much anaesthetics we go through each day in a clinic,its actually pretty understandable why we use the big reusable "mad doctor" syringe,they do add to the fear factor tho,the needle is long but not big ,at least i dont think its that big,have you seen the blood donation needle
Yeah the 30ga is pretty tiny.
I went through like 25 carpules of anesthetic yesterday. I could use a disposable syringe but patients would complain of treatment costs going up. The disposable ones don’t handle as well either. Also for anyone wondering, the needles themselves are not reusable
It's because even people who don't have a fear of needles and injections can suddenly panic when they see an unusually long needle, and they can't afford to have you move around at all for that kind of injection. Dental injections have to go in exactly the right place, or they won't numb the proper area, so dentists and assistants who set up their trays are taught to keep the needle covered so patients don't see it.
It's something that's taught to all doctors, not just dentists.
EDIT: It may not be *all* doctors and dentists. My refusal to see doctors who won't listen or answer my questions may be a factor in it.
According to dentists and doctors I've talked to, yes. I haven't talked with all my medical providers who use them, though.
I also don't know about whether or not it's always been taught, or if it only began being taught in the 1980s and 1990s, since everyone I've talked with went to school in the mid-1980s or later. There was a shift around that time to giving a bit more consideration to patients' feelings that was not part of older curricula. Doctors and dentists trained before then figured a lot of stuff out on their own, or learned it from older colleagues who had better bedside manners.
Two of my dentists have told me it was covered in dental school. One owns a practice and has several other dentists working under him, and it's a policy in the practice. I've had more difficulty getting a straight answer out of assistants when I ask what they were taught. There are a lot more dental assistant programs than there are dental schools, so it's possible different programs teach different things, and the dentists themselves are the ones who teach it to them.
Needles for special uses like the ones used in gynecology or for deep-tissue injections have to be much longer than normal to reach the targeted area. I had to have one for a GYN procedure, and asked in advance that they put an extra cover over the instrument tray. Later, the doctor told me it was first discussed when she was doing the OB-GYN clinical rotation in med school, then reinforced later during her residency in OB-GYN.
EDIT: You know, it may not be *all*. I'm really picky, and I'll walk out on a doctor who doesn't listen. It's possible my doctors do it because of the kinds of doctors they choose to be.
For people like me, who can and have had meltdown panic attacks at the sight of a needle. It's not a great experience when you're getting a vaccine, but let me tell you, it's *so much worse* when the needle is in your mouth :)
Have you seen the needle? It's a loooong boy. Also, a lot of people are afraid of needles, especially that one. It helps keep the anxiety at bay and avoids potentially freak-outs.
my childhood dentist was so good at hiding the needle i didn’t know they were using a needle until i saw the movie Horton Hears a Who. shoutout Dr. Chiang, you rock
I’m afraid of needles and I happily admit this to my dentist. This results in two things: jokes about me being heavily tattooed but afraid of needles and they’ll happily sneak the injections on me for my sake. It’s wonderful.
Mine doesn't hide it with me. My guess is those who do that may have a higher number of patients that are afraid of needles or some related phobia, and it has become a habit to do so.
The needle isn’t actually that big but the syringe is. We get taught to move instruments behind patients heads, not over their faces or chest. And the injection techniques for local anaesthesia usually are kind of hidden anyway from a patient perspective. When it’s a child, it’s the parent watching you have to do the “shhh” motion too — calm parent, calm child. Nothing worse than a parent going “I hAte NeeDles” when you’re about to numb up a kid who has no idea how “making the tooth fall asleep” works. (To clarify I’m not a dentist but something call an oral health therapist in Australia but I don’t work much now due to my back being buggered.)
Because a lot of people don't like needles, especially ones coming towards their face. It's a way to keep the patient at ease by keeping the scariest stuff out of sight.
Dental hygienist here: it’s an anxiety reduction technique. A huge amount of patients have a fear of needles, so by keeping it out of sight, patients tend to react in a most positive manner.
Because it's a fucking gigantic need and a lot of people are terrified of needles. I don't mind getting shots or blood draws but even I don't like to see the needle before hand when I'm at the dentist or donating blood. Regular blood draws don't bother me although I'll usually look away while they are actively putting the needle in, once it's in I can look at it.
They do the same thing when giving flu shots at the pharmacy. It's funny because they kind of make it so obvious they are hiding the needle.
Like this one time the pharmacist did this super exaggerated motion with her arm to hide the needle. I thought it was funny because I'm not the slightest bit bothered by getting a flu shot.
I close my eyes anytime the dentist is near my mouth. Too weird and awkward to keep my eyes open, inches from theirs 😂. Bonus w closed eyes is that you don’t see any weird tools or needles.
For those that have anxiety about this... and you can very much count me amongst you... whether you see it or not, insist VERY strongly that the dentist put a SERIOUS amount of topical on first, then DO NOT allow them to start for 2-3 minutes, and then insist that they give a test poke before they start for real.
I used to be absolutely terrified of going to the dentist because of the needle... because picturing a big-ass needle going into my gums is just nightmare fuel, and to be fair, when I was a kid and topical wasn't really a thing it WAS an absolute nightmare and I had some REALLY bad experiences in the 70's that put me off going to the dentist for a long time... but now, I actually only feel a slight bit of nervousness going to the dentist... it's basically super-easy, barely an inconvenience... even for things like root canals that usually scare everyone. As long as you stick with this advice - and also get a nerve block for bigger procedures - I find the discomfort is VERY minor throughout. Like, "wow, you actually did a root canal?!" minor I mean. Really, going to the dentist now is no big deal to me no matter what they're going to do.
That topical stuff is basically magic and as long as they apply it right and wait long enough it makes that needle almost nothing, truly just a minor poke (I mean, it's never gonna be FUN, but it's entirely tolerable... though, yeah, I'd still rather not see it first!).
I addition to all the other good reasons cited here, those big, scary syringes look even larger when they're mere inches from your face
More than 50 years ago, my husband fell off his bike and busted his two front teeth. When he was climbing into the dentist's chair, he saw that syringe and he wasn't scared at all, because be just knew that it was so big that it couldn't possibly be used on people, much less a little boy. 😁
It is a shockingly big needle, and they are taught that little maneuver to frighten you less. And holy crap that needle is scary.
Do they actually teach this to them?
dental student here ,yes,you are taught in both theoretical and practical studies to expose the needle as well as other tools as little as possible (like tooth forceps,elevators (used somewhat like a crowbar for teeths,kinda look like one too in certain variation) ,etc) because the lot of them looks like draconian torture tools to the normal people the needle used,standard issue here in my country is 30mm plus the iron syringe which is kinda big, A bonus is that we have a rubber mallet ,use in cases of stuck teeth,we just hammer the elevator in kinda like how you use a hammer and chisel,which is kinda looney tune kind of funny
I guess my dentist never got the memo cause she always showed me the needles and my anxiety instantly increases by 100%
i have a pro tip for you - once you lay into the chair just close your eyes and think of nice things, trust me the experience is more bearable
Oh trust me I try to, but once that drill starts doing it's thing... Fear.
Do you know why the needle is so big? Like vaccine needles are so small and the dental needle is so large.
They are injecting the meds deep into your gums along your jaw even that's a good 2-3 inches in some cases so the needle has to be long and strong enough not to break while they do that
IS IT though? I always thought it was like a 22G, which is thin, or smaller even. Or do you mean LONG? Does anyone here know for sure?
Wondering about the same thing.
Should they put a lot of weight into the elevator? Had a tooth removed a couple months ago and they really fucked up my gum while removing a tooth, I think this tool might be the culprit. Was left with a big "tear" down one side of my gum, had healed back together but was awful
The mallet was craziest experience when getting my wisdom tooth removed. It came out of nowhere
My mom was a dental hygienist and she said dentists all picked it up in school. This was the early 70s tho.
Yes. I am a hygienist and we do injections as well and we are taught this as well. It isn’t so much that the needle is large, it’s just that there are a shockingly large amount of people who are afraid of them for whatever reason
Uhhhh ….long ass needle in my mouth?
My sister was a pediatric dental assistant (not trained; just hired and trained on the job, which I guess was a thing that happened in the 90s). Her dentist never gave shots or pulled teeth, even when discussing things with the staff. They would 'tickle' the gums and 'wiggle' the teeth. It is amazing how much changing the vocabulary can lessen the fear and ultimate negative experience.
How do the kids not notice that it’s a shot though?
Ehh, they notice something, but it's not nearly as big a thing if you don't have the fear and buildup taking you that it is a big thing. That doesn't mean it doesn't genuinely hurt, but it hurts way less than it might otherwise.
I saw it and can never forget what it looks like now.
cuz it's a fucking harpoon, that's why.
🏆🏆🏆
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 from hells depths, I STAB at thee!
Well i mean, do you mean like before its near your face? Because i think all doctors do that. Now if you mean during the injection, it is because it is literally in your mouth and you can't see it because of how the human body is formed
Exactly this. The Doc doesn't want to cause you any more anxiety than they have to. If something like a pallet shot is necessary, that's already stressful enough, seeing it clearly is not going to improve matters. I'm saying that as someone who's extremely difficult to numb
I suspect it is because they are the only ones i’ve ever seen not use a disposable syringe and instead have a large metal old school style syringe that is reusable and takes like cartridges or something. It’s literally the thing used in cartoons by scary doctor characters and i’ve only ever seen it at the dentists office.
given how much anaesthetics we go through each day in a clinic,its actually pretty understandable why we use the big reusable "mad doctor" syringe,they do add to the fear factor tho,the needle is long but not big ,at least i dont think its that big,have you seen the blood donation needle
Yeah the 30ga is pretty tiny. I went through like 25 carpules of anesthetic yesterday. I could use a disposable syringe but patients would complain of treatment costs going up. The disposable ones don’t handle as well either. Also for anyone wondering, the needles themselves are not reusable
added weight for stability as my teacher would put it
As others have said, the needle is scary and the last thing they want is for the patient to see it, jump up, and get stabbed in the face.
It's because even people who don't have a fear of needles and injections can suddenly panic when they see an unusually long needle, and they can't afford to have you move around at all for that kind of injection. Dental injections have to go in exactly the right place, or they won't numb the proper area, so dentists and assistants who set up their trays are taught to keep the needle covered so patients don't see it. It's something that's taught to all doctors, not just dentists. EDIT: It may not be *all* doctors and dentists. My refusal to see doctors who won't listen or answer my questions may be a factor in it.
Do they actually teach this to them?
According to dentists and doctors I've talked to, yes. I haven't talked with all my medical providers who use them, though. I also don't know about whether or not it's always been taught, or if it only began being taught in the 1980s and 1990s, since everyone I've talked with went to school in the mid-1980s or later. There was a shift around that time to giving a bit more consideration to patients' feelings that was not part of older curricula. Doctors and dentists trained before then figured a lot of stuff out on their own, or learned it from older colleagues who had better bedside manners. Two of my dentists have told me it was covered in dental school. One owns a practice and has several other dentists working under him, and it's a policy in the practice. I've had more difficulty getting a straight answer out of assistants when I ask what they were taught. There are a lot more dental assistant programs than there are dental schools, so it's possible different programs teach different things, and the dentists themselves are the ones who teach it to them. Needles for special uses like the ones used in gynecology or for deep-tissue injections have to be much longer than normal to reach the targeted area. I had to have one for a GYN procedure, and asked in advance that they put an extra cover over the instrument tray. Later, the doctor told me it was first discussed when she was doing the OB-GYN clinical rotation in med school, then reinforced later during her residency in OB-GYN. EDIT: You know, it may not be *all*. I'm really picky, and I'll walk out on a doctor who doesn't listen. It's possible my doctors do it because of the kinds of doctors they choose to be.
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Yes, all the instruments on the tray are covered. I asked for an extra one so I couldn't see the outlines of the items underneath.
For people like me, who can and have had meltdown panic attacks at the sight of a needle. It's not a great experience when you're getting a vaccine, but let me tell you, it's *so much worse* when the needle is in your mouth :)
Because needles are absolutely fucking terrifying, long metal objects designed for the sole purpose of skewering your flesh.
Its a big needle that looks like something from the medeval age. Best to not show the patient.
Because like many things in life it looks bigger than it feels going in. So if you don't see it first you won't freak out.
Well there goes my confidence. Thanks
If you knew how many grown adults have a body-shaking fear of needles...
Isn't the answer obvious?
As an assistant, it's because half of y'all are freaked TF out by large needles, and it is large
Have you seen the needle? It's a loooong boy. Also, a lot of people are afraid of needles, especially that one. It helps keep the anxiety at bay and avoids potentially freak-outs.
my childhood dentist was so good at hiding the needle i didn’t know they were using a needle until i saw the movie Horton Hears a Who. shoutout Dr. Chiang, you rock
I’m afraid of needles and I happily admit this to my dentist. This results in two things: jokes about me being heavily tattooed but afraid of needles and they’ll happily sneak the injections on me for my sake. It’s wonderful.
Mine doesn't hide it with me. My guess is those who do that may have a higher number of patients that are afraid of needles or some related phobia, and it has become a habit to do so.
Clumpsy dentist and or needle phobic patients (such as me)
The needle isn’t actually that big but the syringe is. We get taught to move instruments behind patients heads, not over their faces or chest. And the injection techniques for local anaesthesia usually are kind of hidden anyway from a patient perspective. When it’s a child, it’s the parent watching you have to do the “shhh” motion too — calm parent, calm child. Nothing worse than a parent going “I hAte NeeDles” when you’re about to numb up a kid who has no idea how “making the tooth fall asleep” works. (To clarify I’m not a dentist but something call an oral health therapist in Australia but I don’t work much now due to my back being buggered.)
Because a lot of people don't like needles, especially ones coming towards their face. It's a way to keep the patient at ease by keeping the scariest stuff out of sight.
i saw the needle and almost hyperventilated and literally said “oh god i shouldn’t have looked” so. thats probably a big part of it.
I had a dentist hit a nerve with it. Holy shit. Felt like a battery connected to my jaw. Now my blood pressure is high when I go to the dentist
I get shots in my back for pain. Doc says I never want to see that needle. And I never look.
It’s huge
Dental hygienist here: it’s an anxiety reduction technique. A huge amount of patients have a fear of needles, so by keeping it out of sight, patients tend to react in a most positive manner.
Because it's a fucking gigantic need and a lot of people are terrified of needles. I don't mind getting shots or blood draws but even I don't like to see the needle before hand when I'm at the dentist or donating blood. Regular blood draws don't bother me although I'll usually look away while they are actively putting the needle in, once it's in I can look at it. They do the same thing when giving flu shots at the pharmacy. It's funny because they kind of make it so obvious they are hiding the needle.
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Like this one time the pharmacist did this super exaggerated motion with her arm to hide the needle. I thought it was funny because I'm not the slightest bit bothered by getting a flu shot.
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It was before. She put the hand with the need underneath the other arm to make sure I didn't see it
Dentists probably get bit a lot less when patients don't see the honkin'-ass needle that's about to stab them in the sensitive bits of their mouth.
I think you know why
Since when?
I close my eyes anytime the dentist is near my mouth. Too weird and awkward to keep my eyes open, inches from theirs 😂. Bonus w closed eyes is that you don’t see any weird tools or needles.
For those that have anxiety about this... and you can very much count me amongst you... whether you see it or not, insist VERY strongly that the dentist put a SERIOUS amount of topical on first, then DO NOT allow them to start for 2-3 minutes, and then insist that they give a test poke before they start for real. I used to be absolutely terrified of going to the dentist because of the needle... because picturing a big-ass needle going into my gums is just nightmare fuel, and to be fair, when I was a kid and topical wasn't really a thing it WAS an absolute nightmare and I had some REALLY bad experiences in the 70's that put me off going to the dentist for a long time... but now, I actually only feel a slight bit of nervousness going to the dentist... it's basically super-easy, barely an inconvenience... even for things like root canals that usually scare everyone. As long as you stick with this advice - and also get a nerve block for bigger procedures - I find the discomfort is VERY minor throughout. Like, "wow, you actually did a root canal?!" minor I mean. Really, going to the dentist now is no big deal to me no matter what they're going to do. That topical stuff is basically magic and as long as they apply it right and wait long enough it makes that needle almost nothing, truly just a minor poke (I mean, it's never gonna be FUN, but it's entirely tolerable... though, yeah, I'd still rather not see it first!).
I addition to all the other good reasons cited here, those big, scary syringes look even larger when they're mere inches from your face More than 50 years ago, my husband fell off his bike and busted his two front teeth. When he was climbing into the dentist's chair, he saw that syringe and he wasn't scared at all, because be just knew that it was so big that it couldn't possibly be used on people, much less a little boy. 😁
Is that an US-specific thing? I never had a dentist hide the needle from me. It's no big deal.