Electronic dental anesthesia: a pilot study.

Electronic dental anesthesia uses the Gate Control Theory of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation. The battery-controlled Ultracalm electronic dental anesthesia unit is a noninvasive procedure to electrically block pain transmissions in dental patients. This pilot study to test the efficacy of electronic dental anesthesia for simple restorative procedures was subjectively reported by 20 patients who had never been exposed to this type of anesthesia. None of the patients indicated the procedure was uncomfortable, and 14 of 20 subjects indicated that they preferred electronic dental anesthesia to local anesthetic injection. Electronic dental anesthesia appears to be an effective means of obtaining local anesthesia for certain dental procedures.