Infiltrative Anesthesia in Office Practice

When choosing an infiltrative anesthetic agent, the type of procedure, the length of time required for anesthesia, and the pharmacodynamics of each medication are important considerations. Distraction techniques and buffering with sodium bicarbonate can be used to decrease the pain associated with injection. Local cutaneous infiltration is the most commonly used anesthetic technique and involves direct injection into the area requiring anesthesia. Field blocks provide anesthesia by circumferentially blocking innervation to the area. Nerve blocks target the innervation to a specific area and are useful on the face and digits. Using easily identifiable landmarks, blockade of the supraorbital, supratrochlear, infraorbital, and mental nerves can provide site-specific anesthesia. Dorsal and palmar or plantar digital nerve blocks can be performed at a variety of locations on the hands and feet.