Show Notes
Would you dare promise patients a refund if they felt any pain? Why do so many of us still skip topical — and what does that say to the patient in the chair? How do you take the sting out of an inferior alveolar nerve block, a palatal, or a screaming hot pulp? And when the lip is numb but the patient still feels it — what went wrong before you even picked up the handpiece? My guest is Dr Nigel Kennedy, known to his Brighton patients as “No Pain Nigel” — a dentist who backed his injections with a money-back guarantee, and who has recently retired. Fair warning: there is no revolutionary technique or new anaesthetic agent in this episode. It is the foundations of painless anaesthesia, done properly and done every time — a great reminder of the why for experienced colleagues, and an aspirational one for younger dentists. We finish on something bigger: how to stay calm, stay well, and enjoy a long career in dentistry.
Protrusive Dental Pearl: Plateaus Are Normal, Growth Compounds
Growth in dentistry is not exponential and ever-rising. Like most careers, it plateaus — and you will feel stuck, sometimes for years. That is normal. Progress comes in small increments, and one of the best things about this profession is that you learn something new every working day. Trust the process. Keep investing in yourself and aim to be 1% better. Give each month a theme — rubber dam this month, photography the next — and the breakthroughs arrive. A useful marker of how far you have come: early on, many of us check tomorrow’s day list so we can revise for the deep filling, the molar root canal or the denture records. Years later you walk in not knowing what is booked — even a full-mouth rehab — and think, “Okay, cool. Let’s do this.” It may not feel rapid, but it is compounding.
What You’ll Take From This Episode
Topical done properly — the one preparation step that makes topical actually work, and why skipping it is a lack of empathy. Tension, pressure and distraction — how to time the needle so the patient barely registers it. The two-stage block — a simple sequence that takes the discomfort out of the IANB. Slow down — how long a cartridge should really take, and why profound beats borderline. When it’s hard to numb — the hot pulp, the palatal, and the last moment of an extraction. Phrases for patients — the exact words to use before the needle, the palatal and the final pull. Highlights of This Episode 00:00 TEASER 01:00 Painless Local Anaesthetic: The Money-Back Guarantee 03:21 Feeling Stuck in Dentistry? Why Plateaus Are Normal 06:20 How to Market Pain-Free Dentistry to Anxious Patients 08:20 How to Build a Dental Practice Patients and Staff Stay With 11:56 Can You Promise Patients Pain-Free Dentistry? 15:29 Why Topical Anaesthetic Is Non-Negotiable 16:56 How to Give a Painless Dental Infiltration 18:49 Painless Inferior Alveolar Nerve Block: The Two-Stage Technique 20:13 How Slowly Should You Give a Dental Injection? 21:22 Midroll 25:44 Lip Numb but Still Feeling It? Testing for Profound Anaesthesia 27:44 How to Numb a Hot Pulp 29:51 Painless Palatal Injections: Two Techniques 32:31 Communication vs Technique in Pain-Free Dentistry 35:52 Pain-Free Dentistry: What to Change Tomorrow 39:19 Stress, Longevity and a Fulfilled Career in Dentistry 45:41 OUTRO
From the Guest
Dr Nigel Kennedy qualified in Manchester in 1979 and owned his own practice in Brighton from 1994, selling it in stages to his associate before retiring at 71. The “No Pain Nigel” name started with a patient who told him she never felt his injections — and grew into a practice-wide promise of pain-free dentistry, backed by patient video testimonials. Nigel is happy to hear from dentists, especially younger colleagues, who want advice. He is on Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn: Nigel Kennedy
References & Further Reading
Sources and further reading from this episode: Melzack R, Wall PD. Pain mechanisms: a new theory. Science, 1965;150(3699):971–979. The gate control theory
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