Do you think that dental hygienist should be allowed to give local anesthesia?!
Question: Absolutely. Like the folks above have stated, hygienists are highly educated and trained under the supervision of licensed dentists and hygienists. They've given hundreds of injections (many of them on each other, no less) before earning their credentials, and most importantly they've been trained on what to do in the event of an adverse effect. I no longer practice general dentistry (I'm an orthodontist), but I can sure appreciate the time it would have saved me if my hygienist could have administered her own anesthesia.
With the exception of the V2 block (an injection that many schools don't even teach and has no real use in hygiene anyway), I can't see any reason why a hygienist shouldn't be allowed to locally anesthetize.
Answers: Absolutely. Like the folks above have stated, hygienists are highly educated and trained under the supervision of licensed dentists and hygienists. They've given hundreds of injections (many of them on each other, no less) before earning their credentials, and most importantly they've been trained on what to do in the event of an adverse effect. I no longer practice general dentistry (I'm an orthodontist), but I can sure appreciate the time it would have saved me if my hygienist could have administered her own anesthesia.
With the exception of the V2 block (an injection that many schools don't even teach and has no real use in hygiene anyway), I can't see any reason why a hygienist shouldn't be allowed to locally anesthetize.
No. I don't think she should be permitted to give local anesthesia. I gather you mean Novocaine.
The Hygienist is not a nurse and she does not receive the sort of training to insert needles into the mouth.
Dentists are trained to know exactly where to place the needles, what the side effects will be and determine whether there is too little anesthesia given.
If something goes awry, the dentist is ultimately responsible. I don't think that most dentists want to take this chance.
Yes as long as they receive it in dental hygiene school. I took a 16 week class. We gave injections daily and then 1 year of injections in dental hygiene clinic while seeing patients and then had to do so many observed by my dentist I now work for. Dental hygienists already licensed only have to go to a 2 day class. We take a whole class on anatomy, pharmacology, and just injections. Our injections are usually more comfortable than dentist injections b/c we do not numb the tooth most the time, we can just numb the sensitive gum areas needed to clean or if needed we can numb everthing and help the dentist if he is behind.
The person above is wrong. Even hygienists who only take the 2 day class have had the anatomy and practice part and been shown in school normally. We are not like assistants, we actually went to college for 4 years. We take the exact same classes as dentists minus the repairing classes and adding more prevention and gum disease treatment. Oh yeah, AND hygienists and dentists are the only 2 occupations that have a written licensing exam as well as a hands on exam for licensing. We take a state board written test and must take the regional board that is hands on.
I agree with Spongebob, but I'll add that some assistants do have a college education and are licensed, in certain states.
Cindi has no clue!!! Novocaine is not used anymore (in the U.S.) due to the high incidence of people being allergic to the ester class of dental anesthesia. A huge portion of my dental education was anesthesia, head and neck anatomy, and cranial nerves, with an emphasis on the Trigeminal nerve. Posterior Superior Alveolar, Middle Superior Alveolar, Anterior Superior Alveolar, ..............We don't learn this stuff for kicks. We do know what we are doing, we can give anesthesia safely, and it is people like you that have no clue about what they are talking about that really hacks me off. Hygienists can be held responsible if something goes wrong, we are licensed in the state that we practice in, our license can be revoked. We are required to take continuing education classes in order to maintain our license. Many of us also carry our own malpractice insurance. I was required to give many injections in the presence of instructors before I was allowed to graduate. In addition I had to take a state anesthesia test, both written and practical and pass (I received a 100) in order to become licensed in my state to give local anesthesia. We are highly trained, we are good, and we are safe.