How Do Dental Local Anesthetics Work?

Local anesthesia may be given before a dental procedure, such as tooth extraction, for numbing the area temporarily. Local anesthetics cause a temporary loss of sensation, including pain, without depressing the level of consciousness. They act within nerve fibers to inhibit the rapid inflow of sodium necessary for impulse generation. When there is no impulse generation, there is no transmission of pain around that area.

When used topically, dental local anesthetics can manage pain from:

• Tooth gum sores
• Mouth sores
• Sore throat
• Open wounds

When given as an injection, local anesthetics are used for numbing rather than pain management. Some dental procedures that utilize local anesthetics include:

• Root canal treatment
• Preparing teeth for crowns
• Treating gum disease

Dental local anesthetics can cause the following side effects:

• Nausea
• Dizziness
• Vomiting
• Constipation
• Headache
• Itching
• Dysgeusia (impaired sense of taste)
• Anemia
• Tinnitus (ringing or buzzing in the ears)
• Fever
• Dysuria (painful urination)
• Abdominal pain
• Irregular heartbeat
• Insomnia
• Back pain

The information contained herein is not intended to cover all possible side effects, precautions, warnings, drug interactions, allergic reactions, or adverse effects. Check with your doctor or pharmacist to make sure these drugs do not cause any harm when you take them along with other medicines. Never stop taking your medication and never change your dose or frequency without consulting your doctor.

Generic and brand names of local anesthetics used for dental procedures include:

• Articaine/epinephrine
• Bupivacaine
• Carbocaine
• Cepastat
• Chloraseptic
• Citanest
• Lidocaine anesthetic
• Marcaine
• Mepivacaine
• Orabloc
• Phenol oropharyngeal
• Polocaine
• Polocaine-mpf
• Posimir
• Prilocaine
• Sensorcaine
• Septocaine
• Ulcerease
• Xylocaine
• Zingo
• Zorcaine with epinephrine