Dentists commonly recommend one of two types of anesthesia for specific dental procedures. These are local and general anesthetic. Local anesthesia is injected or topically applied to a particular area of the face or mouth and numbs any sensation temporarily, without causing a loss of consciousness.
General anesthesia sedates you for a prolonged period, so you remain unconscious throughout the procedure and require a breathing tube. General anesthesia must be administered by a trained professional, while your dentist can administer a local anesthetic themselves.
While local anesthetic is used most frequently at a dental practice for simple procedures like composite fillings or a routine extraction, general anesthesia is necessary for complex processes, such as removing impacted wisdom teeth. With most local anaesthetics, your tooth will be numb for hours, while your lips and tongue will be numb for hours after the time of injection.
As the blood flow carries away the anaesthetic from the injection site to be metabolized or broken down, the numb feeling will gradually fade away. During this time, it is important not to sustain any damage to the numb area.
One of the reasons why you are told to rest and take it easy after any procedure administered with an anaesthetic is because being active or engaging in any form of strenuous physical activity makes the anaesthetic effects fade more quickly. Lidocaine is a common local anaesthetic used in dental procedures. There are many others, most of them ending in —caine.
Many of these drugs are less likely to cause allergic reactions. Local anaesthetic includes not just the numbing part of the liquid being injected or applied to you, but may also include the following:. Healthdirect Australia is not responsible for the content and advertising on the external website you are now entering.
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What are the different types of local anaesthetic? Topical anaesthetic Topical anaesthetics are available as liquids, creams or ointments, and are used on the surface of the body. Epidural and spinal anaesthesia Epidural and spinal anaesthetics are often used to stop pain during labour or caesarean sections. Nerve block A nerve block involves injecting local anaesthetic around a cluster of nerves that supply a particular part of the body, such as the arm or the leg.
This might look like exercise or going for a walk. Although please note the caution below:. Important — Please ask your dentist if they advise for you to engage in exercise soon after a procedure. Many procedures require rest and gentle activities that encourage healing and the regeneration of the mouth.
Activities that increase your blood flow or blood pressure may not be advised. An alternative option is to have a medication administered that reverses the effects of local anesthetic. Research suggests that these medications are safe and that they do not interact with other medications.
An important consideration is that they cost extra and insurance does not cover these costs. While these drugs do have a short-lasting effect that may be uncomfortable they do a spectacular job of achieving their purpose: enabling dental work to be performed relatively pain free.
Patient education and trust is of utmost importance to us — together we can keep patient — practitioner communications strong! We have also written about the heavier sedation techniques that are used at Bell Harbour Dental. Visit our blog: Oral sedation vs IV sedation: what is the better option for me? Bell Harbour Dental is a family owned dental practice in Belltown, Seattle.
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