A short guide to the working mechanism of benzocaine powder

Benzocaine powder is basically a local anesthetic which is primarily used for the purpose of treating or relieving painful conditions of mouth such as ulcers, sore throat, bacterial infection etc. It usually works by numbing the nerves of area under treatment. It is also used in cough drops as it known to bring great relief in cases of severe coughing. Although it is primarily used as a topical pain reliever, but it is also quite commonly used in a wide range of ointments and other over the counter products for the treatment of oral or dental diseases. In addition, the drug is also used in combination with a chemical called antipyrine, which is known to prove quite effective for the treatment of ear pain and removal of excessive ear wax.

Being an anesthetic, Benzocaine powder directly interacts with the open nerve endings of the affected area to bring relief to the patient. First introduced by the name of Anasthesin in the market in the year 1902; the drug works by inhibiting the voltage dependent action potentials. The pains caused in the body are a result of open nerve endings through which sodium takes a direct entry into the neurons which in turn causes the depolarization of nerves. This results in the initiation of action potential which gets propagated toward the nervous system, ulktimately causing the brain to interpret it as pain. This is where the role of pure-powder comes into play as it interrupts the propagation of action potential, thus bringing relief to the patient.