Novocaine causes numbness in a localized area for a brief amount of time. It is used for procedures that don’t require a longer-lasting anesthetic. It’s also used when people are allergic to amide-based drugs (a group of local anesthetic compounds).
Novocaine is administered via injection and used before medical or dental procedures that don’t require general anesthesia to put patients in a sleeplike state.
Novocaine’s numbing effects usually start within minutes. Its pain-relieving ability lasts about 30–60 minutes. Because novocaine is fast-acting and doesn’t last very long, it’s often used for quick procedures.
Novocaine is used during same-day procedures such as:
- Cosmetic dentistry
- Filling cavities
- Dental extraction (e.g., wisdom tooth removal)
- Removing moles or acrochordons (skin tags)
- Skin biopsy (removing a sample tissue for examination in a lab)
- Spinal anesthesia for lower body procedures lasting less than 60 minutes1
Novocaine vs. Lidocaine
Lidocaine is an amide-based local anesthetic that is more potent and lasts longer than novocaine. Since the 1970s, numerous other local anesthetics in the “-caine” family (e.g., articaine, mepivacaine, and prilocaine) have been developed. Though extremely rare, some people are allergic to amide local anesthetics. In these cases, novocaine is often used as a substitute because it’s ester-based.