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How long does dental anesthesia last?
What is local anesthetic:
Dental anesthetic is a medication that is used to numb your body or any part of it from feeling unbearable pain. Such local anesthetic is used in dental procedures during any surgery or during the procedure of root canal and even after it. This anesthetic procedure does not leave you unconscious, but it helps in getting relief from pain. The patient only feel movements or slight pressure. The procedure of local anesthetic works when the doctor or the dentist block the nerves of the affected part of the patient’s body. This blockage then stops the signals of pain from reaching to the brain.
How local anesthetic can be done?
The injection of local anesthetic is injected or applied to those areas where dentists need to do surgery or other procedure. These affected areas include gums, affected tooth, inside of cheeks, etc. The injection takes only a few minutes to show the results of losing sensation on the affected part. A good dentist always makes sure that the affected area has become completely numb before starting any procedure or surgery. Dental anesthesia has some side effects, but they are not very dangerous. These effects include drowsiness, dizziness, numbness of mouth, lip, and tongue. Sometimes it even causes blurred vision and twitching muscles.
How long does dental anesthesia last?
The most common question that patients ask from their dentists after certain procedure is that how long does dental anesthesia last? So, the answer is a maximum of 3 hours. Anesthesia is most likely to be worn off in approximately 2 to 3 hours after the surgery. But the numbness on the lips and tongue will stay for almost 3 to 5 hours after the injection is injected. This numb feeling fades away when the flow of blood properly carries away the anesthesia from the site of injection in order to metabolize or break down. Anesthesia fades away more rapidly if the patient doesn’t take enough rest. If the patient becomes active and engages in any type of strenuous physical activity, then the effect of numbness will definitely be faded in no time.
Precautions to be measured during anesthesia:
There are certain things that should be prevented during the anesthesia.
- During anesthesia, it is very important for the patient to not to chew on the affected site or numb site in order to prevent the biting of the tongue or the lip. This point should not be ignored until the anesthesia wears off.
- Children should be in great observation during the anesthesia. It is because the weird feeling of anesthesia makes the children chew their lips and tongue or even inside of the cheeks which causes some serious damage inside the mouth.
- Gum tissues are quite sensitive, and patients feel much irritation on gum tissues during the procedure. They will hurt you or become sore for a few days. Even the anesthetic injection site becomes painful and bruised. So proper care should be given to such sensitive areas.
- If the dentist inserts silver fillings, then it becomes really important to avoid hard food and new fillings in the first 24 hours. It is because if you chew hard food or directly use new fillings for chewing, it will cause some really serious problems.
- Your tooth or teeth become too sensitive to bear the hot or cold or any pressure due to the procedure. But this is completely normal. This irritation due to the coldness or hotness will be gone in just a few days or maybe a couple of weeks. After anesthesia, if you feel a lot of pain on any of the tooth dentist has worked on or it hits when you bite, then it would be better if you concern the dentists immediately. It is because the biting or hitting may cause the imbalance of the tooth and it will further create some discomfort. So, it is important to adjust them. The dentist will prescribe you painkillers through which your pain will soon be gone.
So, don’t worry yourself with a question that how long does dental anesthesia last. Because if you give proper care to yourself during anesthesia it will be faded at its accurate time without causing any serious damage or pain.