Local Anesthesia for the Dental Hygienist

This course provides the dental hygiene student with the essential skills and knowledge necessary to deliver safe and effective administration of local anesthetics for pain control. Through lectures and clinical experience, students learn to select appropriate anesthetic agents for each patient, select and prepare local anesthetic equipment, locate anatomical landmarks for each injection site and provide comfortable and safe maxillary and mandibular injections. Emphasis is placed on prevention, recognition and management of complications associated with local anesthetic administration. Students serve as patients for each other during laboratory sessions.