# Can a dentist kill with novocaine? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 6, 2005, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dentist-kill-with-novocaine/334281 "2005-12-06T01:15:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dentist-kill-with-novocaine/334281/21 "2005-12-08T21:35:29Z")
A novicane injection once caused my entire lower lip to be completely numb for greater than 24 hours. I was quite scared (but thankfully did not die) ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dentist-kill-with-novocaine/334281/22 "2005-12-09T09:23:47Z")
No cites, but the lecture I remember this from was definitely illustrated with slides, and the ischaemic penis one definitely stuck in my memory…not a pretty picture. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dentist-kill-with-novocaine/334281/23 "2005-12-09T18:54:45Z")
Sometimes it is necessary to use anesthetic injections on infants. When you weigh seven pounds, it doesn’t take a lot of something to be posionous. For children and adults it would require a lot of novocaine to approach the toxic dose. It would be hard to kill with novocaine, though, unless the injection is really far from the mark. Injecting into the nerve helps it work. Injecting into the jugular vein less so. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dentist-kill-with-novocaine/334281.md?page=1)