Does local Anaesthetic affect blood pressure?
The injection of local anesthesia can inflict discomfort, which may elicit cardiovascular changes such as hypertension or tachycardia.
Local anesthetic solutions with vasoconstrictors are not contraindicated in hypertensive patients, but due to their hemodynamic effects, local anesthetics without vasoconstrictors are mainly preferred by the clinicians.
Side effects may be more severe with lidocaine antiarrhythmic and include lightheadedness, drowsiness, nausea or vomiting, slow heartbeat, and low blood pressure.
One possible side effect of surgery and being under anesthesia is that parts of your body might not receive as much oxygen as needed. This results in less oxygen being in your blood, a condition called hypoxemia. Your blood pressure can increase as a result.
The results suggest that hypertensive subjects undergoing an extraction experience small increases in systolic blood pressure and heart rate associated with the use of a local anesthetic containing epinephrine (4 mm Hg and 6 beats per minute [bpm], respectively).
Uncontrolled hypertension is still 180/110 or greater, which is the level that is considered unsafe for dental procedures. These guidelines are intended for those individuals who are 18 years of age and older.
Dental Blood Pressure Guidelines. Regardless of the procedure, a dentist will not perform a procedure or dental work on an individual with systolic or diastolic blood pressure higher than 180 or 109. This is because the risks associated with any dental procedure are far higher when individuals have high blood pressure.
Patients with mild dental anxiety had a lower heart rate during anesthetic delivery than those with moderate or severe dental anxiety. After the delivery of local anesthesia, the heart rate increased in all groups, but this increase was greater in the severe dental anxiety group.
Visiting Your Dentist
Most dentists will not refuse to see you outright if you have hypertension or high blood pressure. In fact, many patients who have high blood pressure can still undergo dental procedures normally. Some even receive local anesthetics safely and take anti-anxiety medications for sedation.
Hypertension in the perioperative and postoperative period increases cardiovascular events, cerebrovascular events, bleeding, and mortality and should be controlled prior to major elective noncardiac surgery and cardiac surgery (5-7). The higher the blood pressure, the greater the risk.
How can I lower my blood pressure before surgery?
Normally the anaesthetist would like to see that your blood pressure is controlled at the target level (for example, lower that 160/100) for at least 6 weeks prior to surgery. You can help to lower your blood pressure by reducing fat, salt and alcohol intake and taking regular exercise.
Anesthesia. Undergoing anesthesia can have an effect on your blood pressure. Experts note that the upper airways of some people are sensitive to the placement of a breathing tube. This can activate the heart rate and temporarily increase blood pressure.

During induction of general anesthesia, patients with hypertension may exhibit significant increases in heart rate and blood pressure, though the agents used for this often cause hypotension.
We have employed intravenous sedation to manage patients with hypertension as well as dental anxiety and phobia. The oral antihypertensive agent nifedipine is mainly administered to patients with high systolic blood pressure (SBP) ≥160 mmHg prior to implant placement.
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You may have:
- some discomfort when the injection is given.
- a tingling sensation as the medicine wears off.
- possibly some minor bruising, bleeding or soreness where the injection was given.
Local anesthetics contain epinephrine
When a dentist uses a local anesthetic or numbing cream containing epinephrine, it can cause your blood pressure to increase. If a dentist doesn't check your blood pressure and uses a local anesthetic, an individual may be put at risk for a medical emergency.
According to the literature reviewed, the use of 1 to 2 cartridges of local anesthetics with 1:80,000, 1:100,000 or 1:200,000 epinephrine in patients with controlled Hypertension and/ or Coronary disease is safe.
Uncontrolled hypertension is still 180/110 or greater, which is the level that is considered unsafe for dental procedures. These guidelines are intended for those individuals who are 18 years of age and older.