[New anesthetics]

Since the introduction of cocaine local analgesia in 1886, and the subsequent development of procaine (1904) and other closely related ester-type compounds, dentistry has prided itself on being as close to 'painless' as possible. In the late 1940s the newest group of the local anesthetic compounds, the amides, was introduced. The initial amide local analgesic, lignocaine (Xylocaine), revolutionised pain control in dentistry worldwide. In succeeding years other amide-type local anesthetics, mepivacaine, prilocaine, bupivacaine and etidocaine, were introduced. They gave the dental practitioner a local anesthetic armamentarium which provided pulpal analgesia for periods of from 20 minutes (mepivacaine) to as long as three hours (bupivacaine and etidocaine with adrenaline). In addition these popular drugs proved to be more rapid-acting than the older ester-type drug and, at least from the perspective of allergenicity, more safe. In 1976, in Germany, the newest amide local analgesic, carticaine HCl was introduced into dentistry. Articaine (the generic name was changed) possesses properties similar to lignocaine but has additional properties which made the drug quite attractive to the general dental practitioner. In 1986 articaine was introduced in North America (Canada) where it has become the most used local anesthetic, supplanting lignocaine. Articaine has been approved for use in the United Kingdom. In this introductory discussion we review the development of articaine and discuss its place in the dental local analgesic armamentarium.