A rare dental intervention takes place without pain. And this is the most urgent problem in today's dentistry. The technique of local anesthesia began to be used more than a century ago. At the end of the 18th century, cocaine was used for these purposes; since 1906, novocaine was introduced. Of course, it was not very effective, but it significantly reduced the power of discomfort.
It was low efficiency that made the search continue. So lidocaine appeared. He was much stronger, but he did not satisfy practitioners, since complete pain relief was still not possible. Periodic allergic reactions were noted on novocaine, and lidocaine was more toxic than its predecessor.
In 1976, a new drug appeared - ultracain. In dentistry, this was a breakthrough. The anesthetic from the amide group exceeded, as it turned out, both novocaine (six times) and lidocaine (twice). In addition, it is less toxic and is able to penetrate into bone and connective tissues without disturbing the functioning of the heart.
Ultracaine in dentistry entrenched quickly and firmly. Due to the high degree of purification of this anesthetic, it became possible to abandon antibacterial preservatives that cause such frequent allergic reactions.
In 1995, the German company Hoechst proposed the use of advanced ultracaine in dentistry. Its price was slightly higher, but the improved quality allowed the use of anesthetic in daily practice, and very efficiently.
A group of young dentists observed the effects of ultracain in the treatment of patients (used ultracain DS-forte). Of the 1275 patients, 647 had a carious process, 389 had pulpitis, and 239 had apical periodontitis. Patients are 18–50 years old.
Patients with contraindications were excluded - tachycardia, narrow-angle form of glaucoma, tachyarrhythmia, bronchial asthma, paragroup allergy.
The effectiveness of anesthesia was evaluated clinically. With conduction anesthesia, anesthesia occurred two to three minutes after the injection, anesthesia with infiltration anesthesia occurred more quickly, after 30-60 seconds, and with subperiosteal pain, after 20 seconds after the administration of ultracaine. After 30 minutes, the strength of the anesthetic was the same as the original. Sensitivity was restored after 180-300 minutes (depending on the type of anesthesia). Side effects in none of the observed patients were noted. That is why ultracaine in dentistry received the most approving reviews, both from patients and the doctors themselves.
The positive qualities of the drug are due to the very low fat solubility (in lidocaine, for example, it is 2.5 times higher) and excellent binding to proteins, which affects the duration and strength of anesthesia. Ultracain is excreted from the body faster than previous anesthetics. With submucosal administration, the approximate elimination half-life is approximately 22 minutes. As for the effect on the liver, unlike lidocaine, procaine, bupivocaine, ultracaine (complex amides), which are destroyed in the liver, ultracaine does not cause complications, so the drug can be recommended even during pregnancy.