Can I update only the needed changes in a database?
I would suggest reading this whitepaper on database version control from DBmaestro TeamWork (where I work)

Basically, it discuses how database enforced change management combines the enforcement of version control processes on the database objects with the generation of the deployment script when required based on the version control repository and the structure of the environment at that time.

This approach uses build and deploy on-demand, which means the deploy script is built (generated) when needed, not as part of development. This allows for efficient handling of conflicts, merges, and out-of-process changes.

It handles the challenges by:

Ensuring all database code is covered – structure, business logic written in the database language, reference content, database permissions, and more are managed 

Ensuring the version control repository can act as the single source of truth – the enforced change policy prevents anyone (developers, DBAs) using any IDE (even command line) from modifying database objects which were not checked-out before and checked-in after the change. This guarantees that the version control repository will always be in sync with the definition of the object at check-in time.

Ensuring the deployment script being executed is aware of the environment status when the script is executing – building (generating) the deployment script when needed (just before executing) guarantees it is aware of the current environment status.

Ensuring the deployment script handles conflicts and merges them – by using baselines in the analysis, the nature of the change is known and the correct decision whether to promote the change, protect the target (ignore the change), or merge a conflict is easy.

Generating deployment scripts for only relevant changes – the integration with application life-cycle management (ALM) and change management systems (CMS) enables you to assign a reason to the change, as is done in the file-based version control or task management system.

Ensuring the deployment script is aware of the database dependencies – the sophisticated analysis and script generation algorithm ensures the DDLs, DCLs, and DMLs will be executed in the correct order based on the database dependencies, including inter-schema dependencies.