Procaine, commonly known as Novocain, was the first synthetic local anesthetic ever used. It’s an ester that can also cause allergic reactions due to para-aminobenzoic acid. Novocain had strange properties that would make the anesthetic diminish quickly and therefore cause some serious problems.
Modern local anesthetics
The modern local anesthetic, Lidocaine, is now widely used during dental procedures. This injectable anesthetic uses hypoallergenic amide molecular structures. This compound also contains a minuscule amount of epinephrine (adrenaline), which provides lasting anesthesia effect. This solves the problem of early anesthesia that would wear off too soon to perform complex surgeries.
Lidocaine can cause your smooth muscle cell to relax in the vessel walls. This can widen the blood vessels and cause dilation of blood. It can lead to decrease in blood pressure. This side-effect of modern anesthesia is known as vasodilation and it can be controlled by using vasoconstrictor.
As you have explored above, a modern aesthetic is often used in combination with other drugs. Here is what your modern local anesthetics may contain.
- Vasoconstrictor to allow numbness to last greater
- A chemical to allow vasoconstrictor keep its structure
- Sodium hydroxide
- Sodium chloride
Sodium hydroxide allows the drug to work while sodium chloride plays an important role to allow your drug to enter your bloodstream.
Types of numbing injections
In order to deliver the anesthetic drug, your doctor will inject it into your blood. There are two types of these numbing injections.
- A block injection
- An infiltration injection
A block injection can numb the entire region while the infiltration injection only numbs a smaller area. The former type of injection is used when your dentist needs an entire region of your mouth to be numbed. The latter is used when only a small area should be numbed.
Side effects and concerns
Local anesthetics are among the most used drugs at a dental office. It’s because of these drugs numb the patient so that your doctor can perform long and complex dental procedures. The good news is that side effects of modern anesthetic drugs are very rare.
Here are some possible side effects of the numbing medicine.
- Blood-filled swelling in the blood vessel due to needle penetration, known as hematoma
- Numbness outside the target area
- Eyelid and mouth drooped
- Unable to blink for the time numbness lasts (usually couple of hours)
- Increased heart rate for a few minutes
- Injury to nerve due to the needle
Here are some concerns about the usage of local anesthetic drugs in dental surgery.
- Allergic reaction
- Short-term wheelchair movement problems for chairs using ‘sip and puff’ method to operate
Although these concerns are realistic, you can easily avoid them. First, discuss your medical history and any previous reactions to numbness drugs with your doctor. For patients operating ‘sip and puff’ wheelchair, they can simply move to manual controls or ask someone to help with the wheelchair until the drug wears off.
Patients with a history of reaction to anesthetics
Patients with a history of an allergic reaction to anesthetics should discuss it with the doctor before the administration of medication. If ignored, it can trigger an adverse reaction.
At 7 Day Dental, we ensure that we discuss your medical history with you before administering any drug. Moreover, our dentists are eager to answer your questions so you can discuss the use of local anesthetics and their effects in length with your dentist when you visit 7 Day Dental office.
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