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Dentistry vocabulary · Extractions, Oral Surgery and Anesthesia

Local anesthetic

Meaning in dentistry, with examples

nounCore term

In dentistry, local anesthetic means: A drug injected near a tooth or nerve to numb one area of the mouth, so that treatment does not hurt while the patient stays fully awake.

In Turkish: lokal anestezik, lokal anestezi, uyuşturma

How it is used

Often shortened to LA in notes. Dentists give a local anesthetic by infiltration or by a nerve block; with patients they say 'a little injection' or 'numb the area'. Common agents are lidocaine and articaine.

Example sentences

  1. I'm going to give you a local anesthetic so you won't feel anything.

  2. The local anesthetic usually wears off after two to three hours.

Common collocations

  • give a local anesthetic
  • under local anesthetic
  • the anesthetic wears off
  • local anesthetic injection
  • numbUnable to feel anything in part of the body for a while, as the lip, tongue and cheek are after a local anesthetic. It is also a verb: to numb an area.
  • extractionThe removal of a tooth from its socket in the bone. A simple one uses forceps and elevators; a surgical one may need a cut in the gum or removal of some bone.
  • medical historyA record of a patient's health, including illnesses, medicines, allergies, operations and habits such as smoking. Dentists check it before any treatment.
  • mandibleThe lower jaw bone. It holds the lower teeth, moves at the jaw joints, and contains the canal of the nerve that supplies feeling to the lower teeth and lip.

More terms: Extractions, Oral Surgery and Anesthesia

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