Which local anaestetic am I allergic to?

Not very long time ago, I've found out that I'm allergic to lidocaine  I have really horrible allergy on my face, around eyes and mouht area. I'm really fobic to go to the dentist and now it makes me suffer even of thinking I have to go, because they can't give me an anaestetic! I know, that there's two groups of 'caine' anaestetic, but how can I found out which one I'm allergic to? Which one can be used by a dentist on me?Who could do a test for me?

[Jerome Bogin, D.D.S.]

I would think that you should consult an allergest to determine which of the caine drugs you can take.

[SBBugg]

Lidocaine and Xylocaine are the same thing. You'll probably be fine with Carbocaine

[letsconnect]

All local anesthetic used in dentistry today are amides rather than esters. With the old ester-type locals (no longer used), cross-allergenicity did occur, so if you were allergic to one ester-type local anaesthetic, all the others were contraindicated.

The good thing about the amides used nowadays is that cross-allergenicity does not occur. In other words, allergy to one amide local doesn't mean that you're allergic to other amide locals. There are five amides in use: lidocaine (which it sounds like you're allergic to), mepivacaine (carbocaine is a mepivacaine), prilocaine, articaine, and bupivacaine.

An allergist can test which ones are safe for you.

[olddentist]

Most people are allergic to the preservative rather than the anesthetic.