Here in California during the last ten or twenty years there were some
pediatric deaths attributed to an overdose of lidocaine. This was
publicized in the local dental press as well as the local newspapers.

As I recall, the problem was that the dentists were working in
large-volume, medicaid-style clinics and were pressured to finish ALL
dental treatment on the patient's first visit. The testimony in those
cases was that the clinic owners said "these people don't keep any
additional appointments" so the employee dentists were threatened with
job loss if they didn't follow the clinic orders.

So they would give multiple lidocaine cartridges in all four quadrants.
This may be fine for a 210-lb. linebacker patient, but for some 35-40
lb. child, it could be a dangerously high dose.

This was tragic and the dental board held that it was completely
avoidable. It's also ironic because lidocaine has a wider margin of
safety than the other local anesthetics. Some other anesthetics have a
3% or 4% concentration, and their lethal doses are reached more easily
with fewer cartridges administered.

Most local dentists who learned about those cases at the time remember
that local anesthetic has a toxicity that can be reached easily when
multiple cartridges are administered to a child, but it has been a
while since all that publicity simmered down.

- dentaldoc

Nope arteries are location specific, largely.
Difficult to penetrate arterial wall.
--

W_B
Take out the G'RBAGE
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