treatment to be performed. 2 As with every medication, each local anesthetic has unique pharmacological properties and specific benefits and risks when selected for use in dental treatment. 3 An important risk with some injectable local anesthetics is the formation of methemoglobin. 4 , 5
There are currently 5 injectable local anesthetics prepared for and marketed to the dental profession: articaine, bupivacaine, lidocaine, mepivacaine, and prilocaine. 2 , 3 , 6 , 7 Lidocaine is the prototypical amide local anesthetic agent and remains the most commonly used