Use of anesthetics associated to vasoconstrictors for dentistry in patients with cardiopathies. Review of the literature published in the last decade

OBJECTIVE The use of local anesthetics associated to vasoconstrictor agents in dentistry is thoroughly justified and is widely extended, but we cannot ignore the fact that anesthetic infiltration poses risk of complications throughout the dental treatment period. The objective of the present review is to document the reported effects the use of the local anesthetics most widely employed in dentistry, with or without association to vasoconstrictor agents may have in patients with any sort of cardiopathy. STUDY DESIGN We have searched for randomized clinical trials on the assessment of the cardiovascular effects of local anesthetics used in dentistry, without limits as regards age or sex, conducted in patients with any type of cardiopathy which were published during the last decade and were index-linked in Cochrane, Embase and Medline. RESULTS We have found six randomized clinical trials index-linked in Medline and Cochrane in the past ten years. These trials compare different types of anesthetics: lidocaine 2%, mepivacaine 2%, prilocaine 2% , associated or not to different vasoconstrictor concentrations such as adrenaline or felypressin. The cardiopathies affecting the patients included in the different trials range from hypertension, ischemic heart disease, arrythmias, chronic coronary disease to heart transplantation. CONCLUSIONS The use of anesthetics associated to vasoconstrictor agents is justified in the case of patients with cardiopathies (once we get over the period in which any type of dental manipulation is contraindicated) and in controlled hypertensive patients. In any case, we must be very careful with the choice and execution of the anesthetic technique, being it possible to use a dose between 1.8 and 3.6 ml, on a general basis. Further studies are necessary to establish the effects of these drugs on severe hypertensive patients or in patients with other more advanced cardiopathies. Key words:Vasoconstrictor agents, epinephrine/adverse effects, local anesthetics, dental restoration, oral surgery, cardiovascular diseases, coronary arteriosclerosis, heart disease, hypertension, arrhythmias, coronariopathy.