Anesthetic Month: Local Anesthesia in Dentistry

Going to the dentist might be a nightmare for most people, because it is often associated with pain during a procedure such as, dental extraction, periodontal abscess treatment, or root canal therapy. Generally, a dentist needs to numb a part of your mouth by injecting anesthetic substance into your gum or inner cheek. Local anesthesia is necessary in dentistry, both for the doctor and patient. An adequate anesthesia will help to minimize the pain, so the patient can be more relax.

Local anesthesia in dentistry is divided into three types, according to its impact to the body tissue:

• Topical Anesthesia.
  
  Topical Anesthesia causes superficial loss of pain sensation in conjunctiva, mucous membranes, or skin after direct application. Topical anesthetics reversibly block nerve conduction near their site of administration by targeting free nerve endings in the dermis or mucosa, thereby producing temporary loss of sensation in a limited area. Their delivery and effectiveness can be enhanced by using free bases, by increasing the drug concentration, or by using physical and chemical permeation enhancers and lipid delivery vesicles.

• Infiltration Anesthesia
  
  Infiltration Anesthesia is often used for minor surgical and dental procedures. It is indicated whenever dental procedures are confined to a localized area in either the maxilla or mandible. Lower concentrations of local anesthetics are typically used for infiltration anesthesia. It has been shown that patients who received infiltration with local anesthetics experience lower pain scores as well as lower analgesic requirement.

• Block Anesthesia
  
  A block injection numbs an entire region of your mouth, such as one side of your lower jaw. An oral nerve block is a simple and effective way to manage orofacial pain without distorting the anatomy of a wound. The advantages of nerve blocks over general anesthesia include faster recovery, monitored anesthesia care, and much less postoperative pain.

Your dentist will dry part of your mouth if you need local anesthesia. In most cases, the dentist will swab the area with a gel to numb the skin. From there, you will be injected with local anesthetic.

Local anesthesia will wear off in approximately 1 to 3 hours after the procedure. It is very important to avoid eating, as you might accidentally chew on the numb area. Well…you don’t want to hurt yourself, do you?