Alcohol after dental anesthesia

In many cases, anesthesia is used for dental treatment. This procedure reduces to almost zero the feeling of pain during surgical intervention in the tooth itself or the soft and inert tissues surrounding it. However, anesthesia, even local, cannot be called a safe procedure. Violations of anesthesia technology by the dentist and failure of the patient to comply with the required regimen can cause various undesirable consequences. It is necessary to figure out how compatible alcohol and dental anesthesia are and whether they are compatible at all.

Accordingly, the patient must take a responsible approach to visiting the dentist’s office and avoid actions that could harm himself. In this context, many patients may wonder how compatible pain relief is with drinking alcohol. After all, it is quite possible that a forced visit to the dentist falls on the same day on which a family celebration or corporate event at work is supposed to take place. In addition, some patients tend to take a dose of alcohol immediately before going to the dental office - “for courage.”

Thus, the issue of compatibility of anesthesia and alcohol intake is quite relevant. So, is it possible to drink alcohol after or before dental anesthesia? What consequences can occur if alcohol and painkillers enter the body at the same time? Is it acceptable to drink small doses of alcohol on the day of visiting the dentist?

Is it possible to drink alcohol after dental anesthesia?

Small doses of alcohol on the same day as dental treatment under anesthesia are, in principle, acceptable. If we are talking about strong drinks - vodka or cognac, then the amount taken should not exceed fifty milliliters. In the case of wine, you can drink one glass, and in the case of beer, one half-liter mug. This amount of alcohol will not cause serious harm to the body, but, on the contrary, will reduce nervous tension and normalize sleep. Unfortunately, people often do not stop at this dose and continue drinking. Why should such people think deeply before pouring themselves a second glass? What can result from excessive presence of alcohol in the blood on the same day as dental treatment with anesthesia?

Why is it dangerous to drink alcohol after anesthesia?

The most common anesthetics used in dental procedures are lidocaine and novocaine, as well as their imported analogue ultracaine. Despite the fact that they primarily have a local effect on the nerve endings, over time they still penetrate into the bloodstream. However, the drugs do not have time to produce a significant overall effect on the body as a whole or on certain of its functions and systems, since they are deactivated in the liver and the subsequent excretion of their metabolites by the kidneys in the urine. A certain amount of anesthetic processing products ends up in bile, with which it enters the intestines and is then removed along with feces.

Should you drink alcohol after anesthesia? To be or...?

It is the creation of increased load on the liver that is one of the main side effects of anesthetics. Therefore, for patients with liver disease, local anesthetics may be completely contraindicated. In any case, in case of liver pathologies, the use of anesthetics should be careful.

Ethyl alcohol, present in all alcoholic drinks, enters the body and is also metabolized in the liver. In this organ, alcohol is oxidized to carbon dioxide and water through a series of intermediate products, some of which, such as acetaldehyde, are more toxic than ethanol itself.

Thus, if a patient takes alcohol after dental anesthesia, then his liver has to do double work to utilize both alcohol and local anesthetic. As a result, the liver may not be able to metabolize both ethanol and the drug at once. This may have the following consequences:

An increase in the toxic effect of the anesthetic due to an increase in the duration of its presence in the blood. The result is an increased likelihood of side effects from the administration of the drug.
Slowing down the process of alcohol processing, leading to the accumulation of toxic metabolites in the body. As a result, the patient's alcohol intoxication will be more severe. He will be more intoxicated, and the symptoms of a hangover in the morning will be more pronounced.
Destruction of liver tissue caused by the combined effect of alcohol and painkillers. As a result, toxic hepatitis may develop. The risk of developing this pathology increases if the patient is simultaneously taking antibacterial or antiallergic drugs.

Although most antibiotics in the human body do not directly interact with ethanol to form highly toxic products, these antibacterial drugs are also deactivated by the liver. The combined intake of alcohol, an antibiotic and an analgesic into the body will lead to such a high load on the liver that the consequences may be the most severe due to the joint intoxication of the body with three substances and their processing products at once.

Side effects of anesthetics, exacerbated by alcohol intake, include the following problems:

arterial hypertension or, on the contrary, hypotension;
disturbances in heart rhythm;
dizziness;
general weakness;
breathing disorder.

Consequences of anesthesia

Of course, most patients are faced with the fact that after visiting a doctor and undergoing even a simple operation with the need to administer an anesthetic, part of the face remains “frozen” for some period of time after the procedure is completed. In this situation, there is a risk of accidentally biting hard or injuring your gum or lip and not even feeling anything.

This problem is quite common in the youngest patients of clinics. While the anesthesia has not worn off, they may or may not intentionally bite or pinch themselves. As a rule, this leads to minor injuries, scratches, and sometimes to more serious consequences. In this case, parents may need time to completely heal minor wounds, especially if they are on the inside of the cheek.

Adults, at the time of gradual cessation of the effect of “freezing,” often suffer from an unpleasant feeling of discomfort, nausea, dizziness and headaches.

Novocaine and alcohol: compatibility

Novocaine, which is a brand name for procaine, is a local anesthetic that desensitizes the skin and mucous membranes. It is perhaps the most well-known anesthetic in dentistry, used to numb the mucous membranes caused by contact with nerves in the mouth and gums. Novocaine is rarely used today because other medications, such as lidocaine, are safer and less likely to cause an allergic reaction. Is it possible to drink Novocaine after anesthesia? Drinking alcohol while using Novocaine is dangerous and can cause breathing problems and other complications.

According to the American Association of Anesthesiologists, the anesthesia can remain in your body for 48 hours after administration. “During this time, substances entering your body can interact with the anesthetic.” Alcohol consumption is not recommended for at least two days. Alcoholic drinks include beer, as well as wine and spirits such as vodka, rum and gin. Alcohol after Novocaine can interfere with the ability to drive a car, operate heavy machinery, supervise children, and even make important decisions. Possible respiratory problems are a side effect of both drinking and anesthesia. By combining them, your risk of breathing complications increases.

Drinking alcohol after a local anesthetic can change how the anesthetic works in your body, and may even increase or decrease the amount of medication needed. Side effects of Novocaine include feeling dizzy, drowsy or restless, and this causes nausea or vomiting. May also cause trembling, shaking and seizures. Alcohol may worsen these symptoms. Before use, you must allow your body sufficient time to eliminate the anesthetics from your system.

Novocaine, widely used for pain relief, can even cause such serious side effects as paralysis of the limbs, respiratory arrest, and cardiovascular collapse. In addition, the side effects of the drug include such unpleasant phenomena as involuntary urination and defecation. Other common analgesics, lidocaine and ultracaine, can cause the same adverse reactions as novocaine. All of these drugs are also allergens and can cause reactions such as hives and itchy skin. In severe cases, anaphylactic shock can occur, which can be fatal. The likelihood of such reactions increases even in patients who have good tolerance to anesthetics.

Metabolites of analgesics also have pharmacological activity. If the process of their decontamination slows down due to increased load on the liver, then the duration of their toxic effect on the body increases.

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What other problems can alcohol cause after dental anesthesia?

Drinking alcohol after pain relief is dangerous not only by creating excessive stress on the liver. One of the properties of ethanol is its effect on blood clotting. When alcohol enters the blood, coagulability decreases. As a result, postoperative bleeding becomes longer and more difficult to stop. Blood may continue to ooze from the wound even a day after a tooth extraction or other oral surgery. This increases the risk of complications. The patient may develop a hematoma or develop an inflammatory process.

Postoperative hematoma is dangerous because its consequences may not be felt immediately. A hematoma can persist in tissues for months and provoke chronic inflammation in them. Treatment of these pathologies can be lengthy and require additional operations. Alcohol is especially dangerous if large blood vessels were injured during the anesthetic injection or during the operation itself. In this case, the presence of alcohol in the blood will significantly increase the size of the hematoma.

Alcohol, contained in large quantities in strong drinks, also has an irritating effect on fabrics. This slows down healing and weakens tissue resistance to pathogenic microorganisms.

Some alcoholic drinks, in addition to ethanol, contain components that are a breeding ground for microorganisms. Thus, fortified and sweet wines contain a lot of sugar. If a drink gets into a wound, it contributes to the proliferation of pathogenic microflora in it. Beer contains yeast, the entry of which into the wound will lead to discomfort and even inflammation. For the same reasons, after operations in the oral cavity, it is undesirable to drink not only alcohol, but also sour, sweet and carbonated drinks. Acids and carbon dioxide irritate the tissues in the postoperative wound, thereby slowing down the recovery processes.

The irritant effect of ethanol and other components of alcoholic beverages on the oral mucosa can lead to increased pain in the wound after the anesthetic wears off.

Complications after implantation

Since a person is almost always prescribed antibiotics after having an implant installed, which cannot be combined with alcohol, it is important to forget about the bad habit for a while. These medications are necessary to prevent infection from entering the wound. The consequences of drinking alcoholic beverages, depending on the individual characteristics of the body, can be very different, even death.

It is important to understand that the ban applies not only to the day when the structure was installed, but also to the next few months. Even a small dose of alcohol can cause severe bleeding due to vasodilation, pressure surges, a slowdown in the healing process, and even bone tissue losing its previous density.

If alcohol gets on an open wound, it can cause a burn, and irritation of the oral mucosa slows down cell regeneration and healing of the pin. In this case, the risks of encountering complications are higher: hematomas, foci of inflammatory processes may form, loosening and even loss of the metal support may begin.

Alcohol and anesthesia during dental treatment

Alcohol after dental treatment with anesthesia is not recommended until all medications used during surgery have left the body, which usually takes about 48 hours.

The danger lies in the combination of two or more respiratory depressants, and alcohol is the main respiratory depressant. It is a common cause of overdose deaths. While in a surgical setting, respiratory depression can be easily treated, it cannot be cured at home.

When can you drink alcohol after dental anesthesia? You should not drink alcohol for 48 hours after the anesthesia. The body has had a big “blow”, so the person must rest. Rehydrating the body is important, so water or an electrolyte solution is probably the best fluid to consume. Anesthesia for dental treatment and alcohol are incompatible for people who value their health! Answering the question: is it possible to drink alcohol after anesthesia at the dentist? It is not recommended, but it is impossible to prohibit such actions!

Is it possible to drink alcohol after filling a tooth?

First of all, you need to figure out what kind of dental filling was performed and what stage of treatment you are at. If your dentist performed a root canal treatment for periodontitis, he most likely left it open and asked you to return for a follow-up appointment in a few days. In this case, before drinking alcohol, it is necessary to close the tooth cavity with a cotton ball to prevent alcohol and food from entering the root canal.

If you have had a temporary filling installed, you should not be afraid of the negative effects of ethanol on the filling material; it is quite resistant to its effects. However, temporary filling materials are not resistant to mechanical damage, for this reason it is necessary to control the degree of tooth compression at the point of contact between the filling and the antagonist tooth (upper or lower). As practice shows, in the stage of alcohol intoxication, people do not control the force with which they clench their teeth, for this reason part of the temporary filling may break off or fall out altogether.

Beware of drinking alcoholic products containing pigments - natural or artificial - it doesn’t matter! Any red wine can change the color of a permanent filling, not only on the first day after its installation, but also on other days, especially if cheap filling material was used. If you have had your front teeth restored with a composite material or have had your teeth whitened (for example, using the Opalescence Boost system), you are at risk, since “fresh” photocomposite and teeth after whitening are especially susceptible to pigments in alcohol.

Is it possible to drink beer after dental anesthesia? Most often, dental anesthesia is performed for the purpose of their treatment or to eliminate inflammatory processes in the oral cavity. Beer is an alcoholic drink, therefore it contains ethanol, which is processed in the liver like local anesthetics. To prevent the burden of these substances on the liver, you must abstain from drinking alcohol for at least 48 hours. Dyes contained in beer can also stain the surface of teeth. For this reason, drinking beer after dental anesthesia is not recommended.

Russian mentality

One of the modern comedians spoke funnyly about a similar situation. He spoke about the peculiarity of the mentality of the Russian person, who will be interested in forums on the Internet about whether it is possible to drink alcohol after local anesthesia of a tooth or other organ. And even if he sees 1000 negative answers, he will continue to look for positive ones. And one answer “maybe” from an incomprehensible user (not a doctor) will be enough to drink.

And everything would be funny if it weren’t so sad. People actually turn to forums for advice instead of asking a doctor. Reason: embarrassment or even shame. Many people are afraid to tell the dentist that they plan to drink after the procedure, but are not afraid of the possible consequences. Moreover, they are not so afraid that they are ready to trust the first person they meet.

In such cases, people rely on the experience of another person who drank after dental anesthesia, and nothing happened to him. But this notorious “drank and didn’t die,” as users often like to prove their point of view, does not mean that no harm was caused to the body. And this harm may not appear immediately.

Is it possible to drink alcohol after anesthesia?

Alcohol and other intoxicants can interact with anesthetic drugs to enhance their effect.

If you've just had anesthesia, the effects of alcohol would probably be greater than under normal circumstances. In other words, you are more likely to become intoxicated. People who are intoxicated suffer harm through impaired assessment of normal motor function (movement) and other mental abilities. Extreme intoxication can affect breathing and even cause unconsciousness (fainting).

Any medical facility that sent you home without standard counseling on alcohol use will be risking your health and incurring medico-legal liability. The degree of impairment, and the resulting danger to you, will depend on the amount of alcohol you drank, your individual susceptibility to the effects of alcohol, the amount of anesthesia you were given, your individual susceptibility to its effects, and the time that has passed since the anesthesia was administered. , and the effect of other medications you may have taken. There are many unpredictable factors that can affect your health, for this reason it is necessary to avoid alcohol for at least the next 48 hours.

When can you drink alcohol?

Unfortunately, the harm of alcohol to the body is obvious, and we are talking not only about the recovery period after implantation. However, after surgery, such bad habits make the situation several times worse. As a result, the body’s natural protective functions noticeably deteriorate, causing malaise, weakness, and disruption of the immune system. Of course, it will not be difficult for a person who does not suffer from addiction to give up alcohol for several months, so nothing can affect the outcome of implantation.

If there is an urgent need, for example, an important event is to be celebrated, experts recommend waiting at least a week. In any case, you should not drink while taking antibiotics, usually for 5-7 days. To speed up the engraftment process, it is best not to drink for six months.

In addition, there are other restrictions that will have to be faced before and after the installation of implants. No smoking. This leads to the formation of plaque on the surface of the enamel, causes a burn to the mucous membrane, and can cause the disintegration of blood clots. Also, in the first few days after surgery, you should not drive a personal car, especially in the first 3-4 hours. This can lead to road accidents due to inattention, drowsiness and stress.

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Why you shouldn't drink alcohol before visiting the dentist

Drinking alcoholic beverages is extremely undesirable not only after visiting the dental office, but also before it. Of course, if a person experiences acute toothache after drinking alcohol, the dentist will provide first aid to such a patient. However, the doctor will not carry out planned medical procedures, especially those requiring anesthesia, if there is a smell of alcohol on the patient’s breath, since the following problems may arise when treating teeth after drinking alcohol:

insufficient action of the anesthetic, due to which the patient may retain pain sensitivity of the tissues;
increasing the likelihood of an allergy to an anesthetic drug;
Both alcohol and analgesics have an effect on the central nervous system, so their combined action can lead to unpredictable consequences, even such serious ones as surges in blood pressure, respiratory paralysis and heart failure.

So, from all that has been said, we can draw the following conclusions:

After dental anesthesia, you can drink alcohol only in symbolic quantities, but it would be best to refrain from drinking alcohol for at least 48 hours, and postpone the planned feast to some other day.
It is advisable to abstain from alcohol not only on the day of going to the dentist, but also in the next two to three days, since all this time there is a risk of negative consequences.
Even the smallest amount of alcoholic beverages - about fifty grams of vodka or cognac or two hundred grams of wine - can be taken only in the absence of general health problems and a few hours after visiting the dentist's office. We should not forget that the combined effect of medications and alcohol can provoke an inadequate reaction in the body. Therefore, even if after a visit to the dentist you happen to drink a glass of strong drink, you should absolutely refuse to continue drinking alcohol.
If dental treatment is accompanied by the use of antibiotics, then you should abstain from alcohol throughout the entire course of taking the antibacterial drug.

The effect of alcohol on the body

Everyone knows the external signs of the influence of alcoholic beverages on the body. These are local redness of the skin (usually on the face), mild euphoria, problems with concentration and coordination. But not everyone will be able to list the physiological mechanisms that occur during alcohol consumption:

vasodilation;
first liquefaction and then thickening of the blood;
random muscle spasms;
increased heart rate;
increased blood pressure;
irritation of the central nervous system;
increased liver function.

Almost everything is the same as when administering local anesthetics. Only the amount drunk can be many times greater than that injected. And the body does not need such a huge dose of stress.

If there is an urgent need to drink something a few hours after anesthesia at the dentist, you can allow yourself no more than 50 ml of strong drinks (cognac, vodka), 200 ml of dry wine or 500 ml of weak beer. But even such doses do not guarantee the absence of complications. And the patient must understand that he drinks at his own peril and risk.