Anesthetic reversal agent gets patients ?back to normal? faster
OraVerse local anesthesia reversal agent (phentolamine mesylate) accelerates the return-to-normal sensation and function for patients who want to avoid the lingering soft tissue numbness after routine dental procedures.
It?s About Time
In clinical trials, the median time to recovery of normal sensation in the upper lip was 50 min. for OraVerse patients vs. 133 min. for the control group. The lower lip was 70 min. for OraVerse patients vs. 155 min. for the control.
Don?t Take Our Word?
Dr. Leonard Hess, Dawson Academy faculty member and private practitioner, noted an interesting side benefit of OraVerse. ?In complex restorative and cosmetic cases, OraVerse allows me to evaluate lip position and lip movement dynamics at the prep visit,? Hess said. ?This makes my cases more predictable and saves chair time. For operative care, OraVerse patients have a higher level of comfort when the procedure is over and are able to get on with their day. OraVerse is part of my practice?s standard of care.??
OraVerse received a ?recommended? rating after being evaluated in 2010 by 12 dentists as part of Dental Product Shopper?s peer-to-peer product evaluation program. Earning a score of 4 out of possible 5 on average, OraVerse was rated 4.5 on ease of use. One evaluator said, ?It?s nice to have another tool to increase patient satisfaction.? Another evaluator, who rated all features of OraVerse as ?excellent,? said ?I see many patients who need to coordinate their visits with hectic work schedules, and have very good feedback from patients saying they were pleased to be able to return to their duties promptly.?
For the patient
OraVerse is administered via injection. Patients concerned about an additional ?shot? can be assured that, because they are already anesthetized, there will be no pain at the injection site. In addition to offering the convenience of returning to normal activity sooner, OraVerse is particularly beneficial for children* and patients with special needs (see Success with OraVerse, below) who could cause harm to the inner cheek, lip or tongue by being numb longer than necessary. Patients with diabetes who need to eat at certain intervals to maintain insulin levels are also good candidates for OraVerse.
With numerous advantages for a wide range of patients and clinical situations, OraVerse is an excellent practice differentiator. Visit oraverse.com for a deep dive into the OraVerse story. The site includes patient information and downloads along with comprehensive professional details.
*OraVerse is not recommended for children less than 6 years of age or weighing less than 15 kg (33 lbs.)
Success with OraVerse
Harvey Levy, DMD, MAGD, Frederick, Md.
Our practice has over 2,000 active patients with special needs, representing about a quarter of our patient base. Much of the needed dental care requires local anesthetics. Whenever we anesthetize a mandibular quadrant or lower arch, our post-op instructions to the parent, guardian or caregiver always included the following sentence, ?On the way home, while he is still numb, please make sure he doesn?t bite his lower lip, tongue or cheek. Thank you.?
Very often their reply, whether spoken or gestural, was, ?And just how am I supposed to do that?? Their next sentence was often a variant of, ?He is 300 pounds, and you expect me to stop him?? or ?The child is in the back seat. How am I going to get to him?? or ?If I am driving when I see him biting his lip right next to me, what exactly should I do with the steering wheel?? I never had a good response to these predictably logical reactions to my knowingly unreasonable request. While perhaps protecting me legally if the patient did bite his lip, tongue or cheek, I knew the ?instructions? did little to help patients. The lower lip bite happened more often than I comfortably admit to myself.
About five years ago, I discovered OraVerse?it changed my practice, and totally modified my post-operative instructions. I now have something worthwhile to offer after the dental procedure, which enables me to say something intelligent to the caretaker. OraVerse is considered a unique local anesthetic ?reversal? agent, meant to undo the numbing effect of local anesthetics.
In reality, it is a vasodilator that catalyzes the dissolution effects of the local anesthetic, such that the numbing effect wears off in about half the time. In short, the numbness goes away much faster, preventing patients from inadvertently biting themselves on the way home. The patients I am referring to are infants, mentally challenged, intellectually disabled, medically compromised, autistic, or suffering from Alzheimer?s Disease.
Our use of OraVerse is not limited to that population, however. We have many working people who have to get back to their job where they must speak on the phone, to students or to co-workers. They cannot tolerate the speech impediment of the local anesthetic, even if transient. They are gladly willing to pay our $15 per carpule fee to inject the OraVerse into the same site as the mandibular block, and have the numbness gone by the time they get back to work. When they are told that the anesthetic effect can be dissipated in half the time, they often inquire if insurance covers it, generally agree to proceed, and are delighted with the result. Dental insurance does not cover the OraVerse directly. It may be billed separately. Some patients will decline based on finances, but our policy is never to make people?s decisions for them. Our job as health professionals is to present the facts, give our opinion about alternatives, and comply with their choice. Patients and their caregivers decide what is best for them.
They now know that there is an answer to the question, ?How do you prevent a patient from biting their lip, tongue or cheek after the dental work is done and the bite block is removed?? In our practice the best answer we know is OraVerse, an inexpensive ?reversal agent? to our local anesthetics.
