Hot Potato

Not to be too skeptical, but here comes a skeptical statement. Lots of allergy claims from the dentist office turn out to be adverse reactions that are not allergic in nature. When the patient has an adverse reaction, being told they are allergic takes away any anger the patient has over the experience. BUT - somewhere between a few to most allergry claims from the dentist office ARE allergic, so get TESTED.

Ever have a problem with rubber gloves? Baloons? I doubt you have avoided contact with latex your whole life, but it is also possible that having a latex covered hand in your mouth for an hour could be a greater exposure than you have had before.

waanfiride

Yeah, like I said I've got an appointment next week. But it is strange because I do spend 1/2 my waking hours in a hospital- as someone mentioned though, we're mostly latex-free.

merlinextraligh

Along those lines, perhaps the OP had a reaction to the epinephrine, which is used with the numbing injection?

merlinextraligh

As for the usefulness of Latex tubes, they reportedly are worth the equivalent of a few watts in reduced rolling resistence, with the only downsides (at least for the non allergic) being price, and they are harder to patch.

We'll used them for time trials, given that every little bit helps, the cost is a very small fraction of the cost of other TT equipment, and you're not going to patch the tubes anyway.

I wouldn't bother for everyday use.

bbattle

Nitrile gloves are better for the bike mechanic anyways; better resistance to oil and grease.

Hot Potato

Intravascular injection of the anesthetic account for so many of the allergy claims. When the anesthettic, usually including epinephrine, gets into the bloodstream quickly, all sorts of symptoms are possible. Difficulty breathing (and thinking this must mean the throat was "closing up), racing heart (usually accompanied by severe anxiety and feelings of impending doom and death) , light headedness, dizzyness, nausea, slurred speach, unconciousness, seizure - and none of it is allergic. It is easier to tell the patient they had a reaction and are allergic than explian it was a known complication or operator error.

I have actually had a friend tell me they were latex allergic because after 4 hours of dental reconstruction, her face swelled up and turned black and blue. Rather than admit the swelling and bruising were from the TRAUMA of the dentistry, she was told she was latex allergic.

But I am sure a dentist will be the first to discover an allergy in some patients, So I would never suggest that they are always wrong. It's just that most people never follow up with the diagnosis of allergy, and spend the rest of thier lives assuming they are allergic.

K&K_Dad

being the op is a healthcare worker and since most facilities didn't start going latex free until the last decade he probably is at the least, latex sensitive. It's a pain in the butt and a serious thing considering there are still a lot of things that aren't latex free in the facilities, sterile gloves being on of the major ones. As for the epi thing, they're probably not getting enough dose of epi to really cause those kind of effects and you wouldn't be getting IV epi during a dental procedure anyways.

Hot Potato

That's just the thing. The dentist uses 5 to 15 (?) ml of local with epinephrine, and even 5 ml has enough epi to cuase symptoms, IF it goes IV. Even if you aspirate the syringe looking for blood before injecting, half of inadvertant IV injections don't show blood when you aspirate. So there is no real way to say 100% than the meds are going into the tissue instead of a vein or artery. IV injections are possible with dental injections. Not the normal thing to happen, but they will happen, and if you aren't looking for it, you won't be able to stop injecting before the symptoms become more pronounced.

I also think it is possible to never experience a latex allergy with skin exposure, yet still react when it is in contact with a mucuous membrane, such as the nose, mouth, or urinary tract catheterization. Did the OP relate the symptoms he experienced or what the dentist saw?