If you have ever been to my dentist’s office than you would already know that they do everything in their power of minimize the amount of pain that you feel during any dental procedure. But my dentist uses a few other tricks that I had never heard of before my first appointment at his office. Not knowing that my dentist wrote a best-selling book on pain management, I learned a thing or two when at his office on that fateful day. He used the art of distraction to make me not think about the series of shots that he was about to administer into my tender gums. By distracting me mentally I thought about it less.

Then he swabbed a cotton tip with anesthetic and numbed the local area prior to giving me the injections of Novocain. Then, when he did give me the injections he used a vibrating massage ball in one hand, which distracted my nerves and made me feel only vibrations on my face. I never felt the shots in my mouth, and before I knew it he had already finished. I was in disbelief that I could get ten or so shots in my mouth and not feel a thing – but there is an art to everything it seems, even giving people shots in their mouth. If your dentist does not practice such trickery, and you are not fond of pain, you may want to look around and find one that does.