Inhalable Local Anesthesia Could Replace Painful Needles at the Dentist
Your dentist may soon be moving from needle drugs to a snort-able variety. Researchers have found that local anesthesia delivered through an inhalable nasal spray quickly travels down one of the face's primary nerves to the mouth, which could be more effective than injecting it into the gums with a needle. The discovery was made when researchers took a closer look at the trigeminal nerve, which brings feelings to the nose, mouth, and face. Scientist have long known about the trigeminal nerve, but they'd never thought to see whether it might be a good conduit for intranasal drugs. Related ArticlesIt's About Time: A Drill-Free Fix For Cavities Virtual-Reality Dental Training Is as Gory as You'd ExpectA Dental Filling Made from Bile and SilicaTagsScience, Clay Dillow, anesthesia, drug delivery, health, medicine, oral anesthesia, oral surgeryIt turns out it's extremely well-suited to moving drugs through the face. Common anesthetics like lidocaine sprayed into the...