Local anesthesia
Local anesthesia
In the first human’s attempts at anesthesia, it was by using narcotic herbs and alcohols, including the coca plant, but in 1772 scientists discovered nitrous oxide gas N2O, which scientists believed to be a deadly gas, but experimentally proved to be a laughing gas and was used in dentistry to reduce fear and anxiety of disease It is worth noting that local anesthesia does not cause hallucinations like general anesthesia.
Local anesthesia works to numb a small part of the body to perform minor surgery in this part of the body if it is available in the form of an ointment, cream, topical spray, and gel, or the anesthetic may be injected through a needle, for example into the layer to be anesthetized so that the entire tissues are anesthetized.
How does local anesthesia work:
Day after day, the need for local anesthesia increases in the field of dentistry, as loss of feeling in a particular part of the mouth is very important for the dentist and the patient to facilitate access to the best results as quickly as possible.
Local anesthesia blocks the sodium channels that deliver sensation to the brain This leaves you feeling no pain even though you still feel a little pressure.
The membrane of the neuron cell contains both external and internal ion channels, inside the neuron cell contains more negative charge compared to the outside of the neuron cell.
In the normal case, potassium ions are present in abundance inside the neuron cell, while sodium ions are found outside the neuron cell, as the sodium ions move from outside the cell to the inside of the cell when the action potential or impulse occurs, and the charge inside the cell becomes positive, but what happens when using Local anesthetic ??
Local anesthesia will come along in a non-ionic form, and this means that it is able to penetrate the cell membrane and enter the neuron cell, and upon entering the local anesthetic, it will ionize because inside the cell it is slightly acidic.
When the local anesthetic is ionized, it will not come out of the cell, so the local anesthetic will bind to the sodium channels, preventing sodium ions from entering the neuron cell, and this in turn prevents the action potential from propagating down along the neuron.
so when we prevent the conduction of the action potential from pain fibers that's means the brain will not receive these pain signals so we will feel no pain when used local anesthetic.
The use of local anesthesia in dentistry is very important for everyone who suffers from the fear of a dentist, as it is a factor in reducing the phobia felt by the patient.