Kava and local anesthetic?

[Kava_Bob_40]

I did write out kind of a drawn out posting but decided to simplify it a good deal. My question is: is it safe to use anything kava and take lidacain/novocain shots for dental work? It has been a about a good two weeks and I haven't gotten any answers back from anybody at the dental office and I feel that I may be getting the runaround by both the dental people and of my primary doctor. There is a lack of communication going on and I am repeating myself over and over again it seems. Like what I am saying is new each time I make a call to them.

I require some dental work that needs to get done then I will be finished. I had to cancel out a February 5th appointment because either no one seems to know or can give me information, especially without my primary doctor which I don't want to make an appointment with him right now. Maybe not ever.

Also I have been promised call backs, from repeated calls to the dental office, but nobody has called me back. This has gone on a few times all ready.

All of the information I have seen refers to "general" anesthetics. I cannot for the life of me find anything regarding locals such as lidacain/novocain shots and being on kava.

I have been taking kava for about three weeks now, medicinally for anxiety and other stuff and although I have lessened the amount because I don't require as much now, I don't want to get off from it entirely. I have been on the tea version that I have been getting from a local herb shop.

I will be calling the dental office again tomorrow morning and I am dreading it. Something tells me they will be like: what? OK we will look into it. They should have been looking into it. I am hoping that my primary doctor isn't holding out on me because I won't go and see him. I can only assume at this point while I am being stalled getting needed dental treatment.

What should I do?

 

[kavadude]

The tea version, like in teabags?

 

[The Kap'n]

I'm no doctor, and cannot give you medical advice, but this is my experience. I've eaten paradise kava's extract to help with the nervousness before a filling requiring lidocaine injections and it caused no issues. I've had probably a dozen fillings since I started drinking kava (yeah, great teeth), and I've never cut back or quit using kava before the procedures.

 

[Kava_Bob_40]

@kavadude: The tea is chopped up kava root that you can put in a tiny muslin bag or a tea ball. The chopped up root is stored in glass jars at the local herbal shop. You hand them over the jar of what ever natural herb you want and they measure out the desired ounces then you pay by the ounce.

On the jar it says under the words "Kava Kava" "Root only - no other parts included and no other chemicals included."

@Kapmcrunk: That's good to know. I had just thought to just let them go through with it and take the chance. It just gets to me because if kava is thousands of years old shouldn't somebody know? Shouldn't this information be readily available to doctors and dentists? Yet it seems that anyone taking a pharma medicine then it is OK. Good example being dentists prescribing benzos for calming before dental procedures.

 

[The Kap'n]

@Kava_Bob_40 Unfortunately kava is still a pretty obscure plant in the medical world.

 

[Kava_Bob_40]

I have a follow up appointment this Friday at 1. I was told I would have some answers by then. Can't they just tell me what the answer is over the phone? I could then reschedule my appointment over the phone if they say "OK" and get the appointment I need quicker.

On that note I think I will make a kava tea.

 

[kavadude]

You'll be fine. There won't be any kind of conflict, and brewing kava in the manner of tea is ineffective. Get your dental work done, and then get a strainer.

 

[Kava_Bob_40]

Ineffective? You mean as far as interfering with the local you mean?

 

[kavadude]

I mean kavalactones aren't water soluble, and pressure needs to be applied in order to extract a significant amount of kavalactones into the water.

 

[Kava_Bob_40]

I would say that after been taking this stuff for the past three weeks has been more than effective. My anxiety has greatly been reduced and also the OCD. If I take as much as a full teaball and drink the stuff kind of quick the effect is amazing. Like a muscle relaxant with valium-like qualities but without the drunkeness.

 

[verticity]

Kava is also a local anesthetic as you may notice some numbing in your mouth after you drink it. If anything, it would probably potentiate the effects of novacaine or lidocaine, if you had the dental work soon after drinking kava. If the dental work is significantly later after kava, it would probably have no effect at all. For some people kava is an analgesic, so it may actually help with dental pain after the procedure.

 

[Kava_Bob_40]

Good point. Yeah I have experienced the tingling sensations while drinking.

In the past when getting dental work done they would offer stuff like Vicodin and such but I am not really into that stuff and I never accepted it. I pretty much dealt with whatever pain/soreness was there. I am going to the dentist today for a follow up. They want to discuss things with me.

Thanks for your input.

 

[Kava_Bob_40]

I was told to stop taking kava 7 to 10 days or else they will not do any dental procedures. I am not happy right now. If I get off from this stuff will I be able to regain the benefits again when getting back on kava?

 

[Steve Mariotti]

I was told to stop taking kava 7 to 10 days or else they will not do any dental procedures. I am not happy right now. If I get off from this stuff will I be able to regain the benefits again when getting back on kava?

I call bullshit. I'm not a doctor, and I don't play one on TV. Hell, I'm not even that smart. But this sounds like "Uhhhh... Kava? What's that? Hmm... Well, you should stay off of anything we-don't-know-what-that-shit-is so we don't have any legal exposure and get sued."

How are they going to know you stopped? It's not like there's a urinalysis test for kavalactones.

That smacks of CYA to me. I'm not saying ignore their advice, but it just sounds weird to me. Did they give ANY reason as to why? Like "we're concerned about the interaction between GABA reuptake inhibition and lidocaine injections"? Anything?

 

[Kava_Bob_40]

They did say something to the effect that because it wasn't prescribed by my doctor and that I did this all on my own and we don't have any information then "we don't know".

 

[Steve Mariotti]

I can't advise you, but if it were me, I'd be drinking shells normally. Pretty much ANYTHING that calms me down going into a dentist visit is a win for me. After two root canals last year, I wish I'd gone in fully krunk.

 

[Kava_Bob_40]

I know. It was like no one had any feeling/compassion for me when I was at the dentist. It was just: "Well you can take benadryl". I have tried that stuff and at times it made me fidget. Didn't do anything really for the anxiety, nothing for the OCD and definitely nothing for the depression.

The dental student mentioned that one of the seasoned dentists there was experienced with Chinese herbs and herbs in general and hasn't even heard of kava. Right there I could have sworn that I smelled something resembling crap after that was said.

 

[Gourmet Hawaiian Kava]

I can tell you as a kava expert that they were wrong to tell you to stop kava, it will not interfere with anything a dentist does as long as the dentist does not inject you in your gums with kavalactones, it lasts a lot longer than the Novocain. Kava is safe when you see the dentist and you will not have any problems with any of the Novocain that they give you. Kava should not be mixed with narcotic pain killers just as a note but you said you do not take those. I go to my dentist, he injects me with Novocain and there has never been any problems with kava, my dentist even heard about the study they did with kavalactones being a substitute for Novocain but as I said the kava lasts too long, several days, this is being injected like the Novocain is not ingested. I hope this helps, aloha.

Chris

 

[Kava_Bob_40]

Thanks GHK and to others who have chimed in. I do feel better about this yet at the same time I feel that they, at the dentist, did instill a fear within me about this issue but yet I shouldn't feel any fear if "they don't know" and aren't seemingly bothered that they are stripping me from what is helping me. At this point no one there would probably listen to me if I even have some form of evidence with me to prove otherwise, I believe, but maybe if there would be something from a study that could be used to show these dental people then maybe at least it wouldn't hurt anything?

Maybe I can meet partway and take the stuff only as needed just to have it in me. Yet I shouldn't have to stop this stuff. Sure they wouldn't know if I have been taking kava or not but again I have a fear that has been created by them in the way they spoke and presented themselves to me that day.

I guess my question now would be: if I end up stopping kava until the early part of march, when I can get back on it, will I still be able to regain the benefits I once had from kava before the point I had stopped it? I say this because usually once I stop using something and try again a second time I don't generally get the effects I did the first time. Then again this experience is from past pharmaceutical experience and not from using something natural but it still has me at some concern.

I thank everybody who has gotten in to this conversation. Because of this experience I have been thinking and planning on doing something about this in the form of a script toward maybe a documentary on how there is bias within health and service industries when it comes to natural and herbalistic treatments. I have been volunteering my time for almost a year at a local TV station. I am figuring since I have access to some people, some equipment and space that I can maybe make a difference and let it known that people really do have a voice when it comes to and of about taking natural aids and medicines. It would be to make awareness but also to motivate people into some form of action, without that any promotion of awareness of any matter would be sort of useless.

 

[Kava_Bob_40]

I will be canceling my dental appointment on tuesday. I will not jeopardize my well being for anybody just because "they don't know". Now the only problem is what to do about my tooth that needs a root canal. No idea. There is no pain unless I touch the tooth. 90% close to the nerve.