Are you numb for too long after going to the dentist? The anesthetic used to numb dental patients can last anywhere from three to five hours, making it hard to talk, eat and drink. But a new drug cuts the time it takes to return to normal in half.
It's not the drilling Robert Gamble dreads at the dentist. It's the lack of feeling in his face after the procedure, "I have to wait all day long. My mouth is funny and numb."
Numbness left behind by the anesthetic can be especially inconvenient when he returns to his job as a computer technician, "I have to deal with customers a lot and it's kind of hard to talk with customers when my tongue is falling out of my mouth or my lips don't work right."
"Some patients think that they're constantly drooling. Some patients think they look fat and puffy because of the anesthetic," says dental researcher Vidya Sankar.
But now an anesthetic reversal agent called Oraverse can get patients back to normal in half the time. Injected immediately after a dental procedure, Oraverse helps dilate the blood vessels to move the anesthetic away from the tissue faster. "It's one-to-one. So if you get one cartridge of anesthetic for your dental procedure, then they use one cartridge of the reversal agent," says Dr. Sankar.
She says it's great for busy adults and some kids, "Kids, whenever they are numb, they feel something's weird in their mouth and they might go and traumatize their lip or their tongue or their cheek."
It takes children about two hours to return to normal after oraverse. Adult patients return to normal in about an hour and a half.
Oraverse is not recommended for children under six, or those who weigh less than 33 pounds. Patients with cardiac problems may want to consult a doctor before receiving Oraverse.
