Local anesthetics in dentistry: use restrictions

Abstract

Practical healthcare professionals should be provided with modern, safe and effective medicines, the most important group of which are local anesthetics. Local anesthesia is especially necessary for a dentist. The use of anesthesia improves the quality of treatment and the patient's life, reduces stress and possible complications. However, the drugs themselves – local anesthetics, being chemicals, can have negative effects on the body due to patient’s individual differences, pathways of substance metabolism, possible interactions with other drugs, as well as the technology of anesthesia and the choice of a specific drug and dosage for treatment. The article considers the range of drugs used for local anesthesia in dentistry, currently available on the pharmaceutical market. We studied some adverse reactions to the use of local anesthetics; analyzed a clinical case of an ophthalmological patient with a limitation in the use of local anesthesia by a dentist during treatment. When using drugs for local injection anesthesia, it is important to consider the risk groups of patients, the combinations of drugs used, the composition of the injection drug, the presence of a vasoconstrictor and excipients.