The hazards of dental local anaesthetics

Analysis of data from the Registrar General's Office and from the adverse reactions subcommittee of the Committee on Safety of Medicines as well as published reports, suggest that more deaths have followed the use of prilocaine than have followed the use of lignocaine with adrenaline. In relation to their vast scale of use, significant adverse reactions to local anaesthetics are remarkably rare and even in patients with heart disease lignocaine with adrenaline seems to be the preapration of choice because of its great effectiveness and scanty evidence of adverse effects.