Quick help for that nagging toothache

Sharp gnawing pain! – It always comes at the wrong place and wrong time. This hurt can rob your of quality of life faster than almost anything.

Yes, I’m talking about the dreaded toothache. It can be the most excruciating pain and can last so long that it can really drag you down and make you feel positively miserable. Anyone that has ever had one never wants another.

Now, what happens when this occurs when you do not have quick access to a dentist or a store for any over the counter toothache remedies?

The following are emergency measures only and are not a substitute for dental care. These techniques can get you a little bit of relief when you do not have any other alternatives.

These two tips are based on the alternative therapy that is referred to as ‘Acupressure’, which in turn is loosely based on the art of Acupuncture and uses finger pressure instead of needles to stimulate the nerve endings at certain selected pressure points.

One pressure point is located at the webbed portion between the thumb and the index finger, which is easy to access and manipulate. This point is called LI 4. The correct technique to stimulate this point comes from Michael Reed Gach, Ph.D., director of the Acupressure Institute in Berkeley, California, and author of Acupressure’s Potent Points.

LI 4 is located in the webbing between your thumb and index finger, close to the bone at the base of the index finger. The point is on the large intestine meridian, which is a traditional acupressure pathway for relieving toothaches, according to Dr. Gach. He explains that the meridian flows from the hands and up the arms until it reaches the teeth and gums.

Quick Pain Relief Tip #1

To press point LI 4, says Dr. Gach, hold it with your thumb on top of the webbing and your index finger underneath, then squeeze into the webbing, angling the pressure toward the bone that connects the index finger to the hand. He suggests holding the point for one minute as needed to relieve pain. He cautions that pressing this point can cause uterine contractions and is not recommended for pregnant women.

Stimulating this point causes the body to release endorphins, the body’s natural pain killers.

The second tip  is more obvious and not something you would want to do in public but can be extremely effective in relieving toothache pain.

To ease acute toothache pain, you work on the pressure point in the area just under your nose, about halfway between your nose and your top lip, in the groove known as the ‘philtrum’.

Using the tip of the forefinger or the knuckle of the forefinger to press fairly heavily into the point just under your nose. This can feel a little painful at first, but you will soon get used to this pressure and as you continue this treatment, your toothache pain will disappear.

Quick Pain Relief Tip #2

The best way to accomplish a quick pain relief is to press the point of your forefinger or your knuckle into the center point on the ‘philtrum’ with as much pressure as you can manage. – Hold this pressure for 10 seconds and release for 2 or 3 seconds. – Continue in bursts of 10 seconds for 5 minutes or until the pain eases.

These are just a couple of little tips you can use in an emergency situation, where no other home treatment is available. These can help ease the pain until you can get to your dentist, which you should do as soon as possible.

The science behind b-Calm

We’re often asked what AudioSedation is all about. We coined the term to describe the type of noise control that b-Calm provides, here’s a little more about the science b-Calm.

Noise is a common annoyance. As another form of pollution it increases stress and decreases quality of life.  Be it the cars on a busy street, or the low thump of a neighbors stereo, our ears are constantly bombarded with anxiety inducing noise.

The dental office is no exception.  The unfortunate realty is that dental care requires the use of tools that create high-pitched and loud noise.  The drill is the common culprit, the immediately identifiable high pitched whirred is very annoying even for dentists and assistants who use the tools ever day.  The screeching sound of ultrasonic scalers on teeth is nearly as bad.

From the acoustics perspective there are different options available to provide relief.  The introduction of electronic handpieces is certainly one avenue.  While quiet, the cost for these units can leave them out of reach for many practices.

Another technology currently popular in consumer electronics is active noise control (ANC).  Using in the form of large headphone, this technique has the amazing ability to greatly reduce many sounds such as HVAC noise, jet engines etc.  There are drawbacks however.  Performance of ANC systems decrease as the frequencey (or pitch) of the noise increases.  One system we tested gave a noise reduction performance of ~10 dB at 300 Hz.  With dental handpiece noise capable of sound in excess of 25,000 Hz, ANC is just simply not robust enough to do the job effectively.

AudioSedation uses a wholely different technique to achieve noise relived.  Commonly called noise masking, this method allows for a variety of sounds controlled.  Noise masking works by covering a disturbing sound with one that is more positive or non-obtrusive.  In the case of dental noise we developed a special blend of white noise and nature sounds and optimized this mix to cover the offending sounds of a dental office.

With AudioSedation, the noise of a drill or other handpiece is much less apparent.  In addition, the patient has a postive sound that serves as a mental escape they can enjoy during their appointment.  The best evidence of the effectiveness of our method in the comments from patients who have used the system, a selection of these are featured in videos on our website.

Curtis Carroll, M.S.
Mechanical Engineer
Acoustics and Noise Control
b-Calm llc

Online Support for Dental Fear

Scared of the dentist?

You’re not alone, in fact, there’s an entire online community of individuals working together to address dental fear and anxiety.  A wealth of information and support is available at your fingertips.

http://www.dentalfearcentral.org/

b-Calm Featured on Evening News

Press Release
Ankeny, IA
9 May 2008

b-Calm Featured by KCCI News Channel 8 in Des Moines, IA

The work of Dr. Budke was recently acknowledged by KCCI and featured on the 10pm evening news.

b-Calm Dental Debut

Press Release
Ankeny, IA
14 January 2008

b-Calm, llc. Announces Debut of New Patient Management Technology

Dr. Ken Budke, founder of b-Calm, LLC. is pleased to introduce the new patient management system b-Calm. b-Calm™ is a unique new personal audio system designed to relieve dental patients from the disturbing noises generated by the dental drill and other hand pieces. In addition, the proprietary AudioSedation technology promotes a calm and relaxed mind. The result is less stressful more pleasant dental visits.

Dr. Budke, a practicing dentist of 35 years, began development of the b-Calm™ system in 2003 after numerous patient comments on the disturbing nature of drill noise. A variety of solutions were explored and tested both by academic and industry noise control experts. The result is the patent pending AudioSedation technology. Through the unique blend of noise mitigating signals optimized around the sounds in the dental environment, the noise generated by the dental drill and other handpieces is disguised thus making it unrecognizable to the human ear. These signals are blended into live high-fidelity recording of nature that have been proven to promote a low-stress and calm mental state.

To provide a complete solution that would be compatible with the dental office environment the b-Calm™ system was design to be hygienic as well. The foundation of this is a disposable earphone tip that is easily replaced after each use. This tip insures not only good acoustic performance, but hygienic safety as well. Other portions of the system are designed to be easily cleaned. A disposable plastic sleeve is also available to use over the control unit for further patient protection.

Patients who have tested the b-Calm™ system have remarked at the effectiveness of the device in mitigating the drill noise. Other comments note that dental procedures seemed shorter in duration. As a result, it is expected that dentists using the b-Calm™ system will be able to provide better more effective care and encourage routine visits from patients normally fearful of the dentist chair.

b-Calm LLC. is currently seeking additional distribution partners and expects to fully launch the product in the first quarter of 2008. For further information log onto
http://www.b-calmdental.com