Hygenist students learn new anesthesia

By Jolene Bulmer

The coordinators of the St. Clair College dental hygiene program are bringing in a new needle free anesthesia.

Oraqix is a non-injectable local anesthetic applied onto and underneath the gums to moderate pain during scaling. It is dispensed as a liquid but turns into a gel and takes 30 seconds to become active. The product last approximately 20 minutes and is administered by registered dental hygienist.

This is the first year dental hygiene students have had access to Oraqix or any anesthetic.

Mena Tomaselli is the dental technician at St. Clair. Tomaselli said the only other anesthetic they have been around is topical, which is applied by the dentist.

“Most dental offices have started to use Oraqix because now the dental hygienists can quickly use the anesthetic. When people have gum diseases and they need deeper cleaning, instead of interrupting the dentist, who may be performing an operation, the hygienist can just do it,” said Tomaselli. “They should be exposed to all new technologies so they are prepared when they leave us.”

Dental hygiene student Brock Jones has graduated from dental assisting and is now in his second year of dental hygiene. He said he is used to the change of bringing in new products but is surprised by how different the jobs are.

“Of course they’re going to teach us how to use new techniques to be as efficient as we can. These new skills and new products such as Oraqix make us more knowledgeable and essentially make us more marketable to get hired,” said Jones. “When I was in assisting we couldn’t even touch products like Oraqix, not that we had any.”

In the near future, dental hygienist across Canada can expect to use Oraqix.