New drug stops post-dentist numbness
A new drug is being released that speeds up your post-dental treatment recovery.
Patients are often given anaesthetics to take away the pain when having certain dental treatments like extractions or root canals. However, these anaesthetics can render people numb, speechless and unable to eat for hours after surgery.
This new form of medication, called phentolamine mesylate and marketed as OraVerse, is now increasing the recovery time of many patients by removing the numbness.
Explaining how the drug works, Dr Vidya Sankar, director of t the University of Texas’s Oral Medicine Clinic, said that OraVerse induces vasodilation, causing blood vessels to dilate in the area where anaesthetic has adminstered, which reverses the affects of the anaesthetic.
During research four different dental anaesthetics were tested and in all cases it was found that OraVerse reversed the affects of the anaesthetics.
It was also revealed that the drug reduced the average recovery time by 83 minutes in the upper lip and 85 in the lower lip.
The US Food and Drug Administration has now approved the drug for use by adults and children over the age of six, although its use is not usually covered by your medical insurance.
Patients that use OraVerse may experience a slower or faster heart rate, but no serious effects were discovered when being tested.
Experts say they the drug should not be administered to children that weigh less than 33 pounds.
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