Nasal Spray Could Replace The Anesthetic Needle

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Dental News
How Paying Through The Nose Can Be A Good Thing
The American Chemical Society's journal Molecular Pharmaceutics is reporting in the May/June issue that a common local anesthetic, when administered to the nose as nose drops or a nasal spray, discovery could lead to new intranasal drugs for noninvasive treatment for dental pain.

The approach could provide a more effective and targeted method for treating dental pain/anxiety, trigeminal neuralgia (severe facial pain), migraine, and other painful conditions, the scientists say.

Having A Nose For Advances In Dental Pain Treatment
Researcher Neil Johnson, working in the labs of Frey and Leah R. Hanson, Ph.D. at Regions Hospital in Minnesota, found that lidocaine or Xylocaine, sprayed into the noses of laboratory rats, quickly traveled down the trigeminal nerve and collected in their teeth, jaws, and mouths at levels 20 times higher than in the blood or brain.

William H. Frey II, Ph.D., and colleagues note that drugs administered to the nose travel along nerves and go directly to the brain. One of those nerves is the trigeminal nerve, which brings feelings to the face, nose and mouth. Until now, however, scientists never checked to see whether intranasal drugs passing along that nerve might reach the teeth, gums and other areas of the face and mouth to reduce dental pain in the face and mouth.

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