Local Anesthesia

Sometimes dentists need to do more in-depth work than your regular cleanings and exams. Due to the sensitivity of your teeth and gums, some treatment may require local anesthetic medication to cause numbness.

You may have heard of dentists using Novocain to numb patients’ mouths, but Novocain is not actually used anymore. Modern dentists use much safer and more effective drugs such as lidocaine. These are usually combined with other substances such as vasoconstrictors to increase the effectiveness and duration of the anesthesia.

There are two kinds of local anesthetics that dentists use to numb your mouth. The first is called a topical anesthetic, which is swabbed over a small area on the surface of your mouth or gums. In most cases, this is used to numb the area where the dentist plans to inject the other kind of local anesthetic. The injectable anesthetic is what we rely on to keep you comfortable and pain-free.

What To Expect

Despite the numbness from the topical anesthetic, some patients feel a stinging sensation from the injection and think it isn’t working. In reality, this feeling is caused by the anesthetic drug entering the body and beginning to work. The stinging subsides within several seconds.

Side Effects

Local anesthesia does have side effects, but they are usually not serious. One well-known side effect is a temporary rapid heartbeat, which can happen if the local anesthetic is injected into a blood vessel. One of the chemicals used in the local anesthetic injection, epinephrine, can travel directly from the blood vessel to the heart. You may also know epinephrine by its other name: adrenaline. It is a naturally occurring substance in your body that can rapidly increase your heart rate. The fast heartbeat it causes can be alarming, but it is not dangerous and should return to normal in a matter of seconds.

Numbness

The numbness from local anesthesia will take a couple hours to wear off, which may inhibit proper speaking and eating. After your appointment, you’ll need to be careful about biting and chewing—you could bite your tongue or cheek and not feel it! You may also experience temporary swelling or drooping of parts of your mouth or face. Some patients find themselves unable to blink, though this is not something to worry about. You’ll be able to blink normally again as soon as the anesthetic wears off.