Modern dentistry provides patients with a large number of services to correct dental defects. However, not all procedures can be considered painless. That is why during the majority of them application anesthesia is used.
What is the procedure?
It consists in the effect of special painkillers on the terminal nerve endings of the tooth without using a syringe. Naturally, different drugs provide different effects. Pain relief is superficial. The drug is applied to the desired area in the form of a gel, ointment or spray.
Please note that topical anesthesia is not always allowed. Therefore, the type of anesthesia should be chosen by the doctor, depending on the operation to be performed, as well as on the characteristics of your body.
Indications for use
Local topical anesthesia is usually done in these cases:
- In the treatment of caries.
- To reduce pain sensitivity in the area where you need to make an injection.
- To be painlessremove a loose tooth.
- To remove tartar.
- To restore the natural shape of the crown.
- To prevent the gag reflex during dental impression surgery.
Advantages and disadvantages of the procedure
Application anesthesia has some advantages:
- High efficiency action.
- Safety for the patient.
- No pain discomfort. The fact is that the drugs are applied with a cotton swab, so it does not cause any pain.
However, there are also disadvantages. For example, the duration of action of most drugs is limited to 30 minutes, and the doctor may not have time to do everything necessary for this time period. Despite the safety of the use of drugs, they still penetrate the systemic circulation and can cause side effects. Another disadvantage of using such anesthesia is the inability to control the dosage of drugs that are made in the form of an aerosol.
Contraindications and side effects
Before application anesthesia is applied, it is necessary to study all contraindications that make it impossible to use this method of anesthesia. Among them are the following:
- Individual intolerance to the drug or its components.
- Occurrence of an allergic reaction.
- Acute forms of heart and vascular disease, and recentlyheart attack or stroke.
- Diabetes mellitus.
- Disruption of the endocrine system.
The biggest side effect of this type of pain relief is allergies. If the drugs used are dosed correctly, then complications can be avoided. Please note that you can not use such drugs at home. The presented type of anesthesia can be replaced. There are other ways to administer drugs.
Application and infiltration anesthesia are two types of local anesthesia. In this case, the second of them is used in cases where it is impossible to use the first. Infiltration anesthesia differs in that it is administered by injection.
Types of topical anesthesia
Before you carry out anesthesia, you need to figure out how it will be done. Most often it is classified according to the mechanism of action. Pain relief can be divided into four groups:
- Moxibustion. For its implementation, nitric acid, carbolic acid, silver nitrate solution and other substances are used. However, this method is not always used, as it can severely damage tissues and pulp.
- Dehydration. In this case, special agents are used that can reduce the sensitivity of tissues to pain by reducing the amount of fluid in them.
- Means of physiological action. These include aspirin paste, strontium paste and other substances. After the product has been applied todental tissue, it blocks the conduction of pain through the receptors of the dentinal tubules. The therapeutic effect in this case is very pronounced.
- Local anesthetic. It can block the conduction of peripheral nerve endings. Such a substance should be used to treat hard dental tissues.
What drugs are used?
If you need topical anesthesia, the preparations for its implementation should be chosen by the attending physician. There are enough of them. The most common are:
- "Dikain" ("Tetracain"). This tool can be sold in the form of ointments, solution or special powder. It is used quite rarely, as it has a high degree of toxicity. For the treatment of teeth in children, it is better not to use it.
- "Lidocaine". This is the most common drug that is used in pediatric and adult dentistry. It can also be purchased in the form of an ointment and gel. There is also a liquid solution of this drug.
- "Pyromecaine". The medicine provides a good analgesic effect. It is available in ampoules or in the form of an ointment.
- "Benzocaine". The presented drug is sold in the form of an oily or glycerin solution.
- Alcohol solution of propolis. This substance can also eliminate pain.
Features of the procedure
So beforeto use a drug, such as a gel, for topical anesthesia, you must make sure that the patient does not have an allergic reaction to it.
You can apply drugs with a cotton swab. In this case, the substance is either rubbed into the mucous membrane of the mouth, or simply applied to a specific area. If the anesthetic effect was not achieved the first time, then the procedure can be repeated. During anesthesia, it must be taken into account that each tooth differs from the other in the degree of pain perception. Therefore, in each individual case, a different dosage of the drug can be applied.
If the doctor decides to use an aerosol, then it is applied to the required area by spraying. It should be taken into account that the drug will also get to other parts of the oral mucosa. This may be highly undesirable.
Some recommendations
If you need to undergo a dental procedure using anesthetics, you should not drink alcohol the day before your visit to the doctor. They can reduce the analgesic effect.
If you have fear at the mere thought of visiting a doctor, then at night you can take mild herbal sedatives. In case of infectious or inflammatory diseases in the body, it is better to postpone the treatment.
Women should not go to the dentist during their period. This period is accompanied by increased excitability of the nervous system, and susceptibility to certain drugs becomes stronger. This may result in a strongbleeding.
In any case, application anesthesia in dentistry (we have already considered the drugs) is very common. But only a qualified doctor can use it. Only he is able to assess the patient's condition, take into account the characteristics of the patient's body and determine the dosage of the drug. Stay he althy!
