Calculate maximum recommended doses of lidocaine, articaine, mepivacaine, bupivacaine, and prilocaine by patient weight. Supports adult and pediatric dosing, multi-drug combinations, contraindication checks, epinephrine tracking, and clinical note generation. Built for dentists and dental students.
The calculator covers every local anesthetic commonly used in dental practice, with accurate MRD values from Malamed's Handbook of Local Anesthesia (7th Edition).
MaxDose is the most comprehensive dental local anesthetic calculator available — and it's completely free.
Calculate MRD in milligrams and maximum cartridges for any dental anesthetic. Shows whether the local anesthetic dose or epinephrine is the limiting factor.
Use sliders to distribute your dose budget across multiple drugs. Based on Malamed's lowest MRD rule (Box 4.3) for multi-drug scenarios.
Dedicated pediatric mode with weight-based and age-restricted calculations following American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry guidelines.
Select patient conditions to see which anesthetics are contraindicated, relatively contraindicated, or safe to use. Based on Malamed Tables 4.2 and 10.2.
Automatic epinephrine budget tracking for healthy patients (200 μg limit) and cardiac/epi-sensitive patients (40 μg limit).
One-click clinical note generation with drug name, dose, cartridge count, and patient weight — ready to paste into your patient record.
Patient safety depends on accurate local anesthetic dosing. Overdose risks are especially significant in pediatric patients, elderly patients, and those with medical conditions that affect drug metabolism. Weight-based dosing is critical for children and low-weight adults, where standard "adult doses" can easily exceed safe limits.
Manual calculation errors are more common than most clinicians realize. Juggling different concentrations, cartridge volumes, vasoconstrictor limits, and mg/kg values under clinical pressure creates opportunities for mistakes. A dedicated dental anesthesia calculator eliminates that guesswork and provides an immediate, reliable reference point.
This tool is informed by established clinical guidelines, including dosing data from Malamed's Handbook of Local Anesthesia (7th Edition, 2019) and AAPD pediatric recommendations. It is intended as a clinical reference to complement — never replace — professional judgment.
Step-by-step guide with the formula, worked examples for lidocaine and articaine, weight conversion, and common mistakes to avoid.
Read the guide →Complete reference tables: adult MRD values, duration of anesthesia, epinephrine concentrations, and AAPD pediatric doses.
View the chart →Everything about lidocaine: formulations, MRD with and without epi, onset and duration, contraindications, pediatric dosing, and toxicity signs.
Read the guide →The maximum recommended dose of lidocaine with epinephrine for a healthy adult dental patient is 7.0 mg/kg, with an absolute maximum of 500 mg per appointment. For a 70 kg adult, that equates to approximately 13 cartridges of 2% lidocaine (1.7 mL).
Multiply the patient's weight in kilograms by the drug's maximum dose in mg/kg. For example, for a 70 kg patient using lidocaine with epi (7.0 mg/kg): 70 × 7.0 = 490 mg maximum. Then divide by the mg per cartridge to find the maximum number of cartridges.
The most common local anesthetics in dental practice are lidocaine 2%, articaine 4%, mepivacaine 3% and 2%, bupivacaine 0.5%, and prilocaine 4%. Each has different onset times, durations, and maximum recommended doses.
This calculator includes a pediatric dosing mode following AAPD (American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry) guidelines. It is designed as a clinical reference tool. The treating clinician bears full responsibility for verifying dosages and making treatment decisions.
Yes, completely free. No cost, no sign-up, no account required. All calculations run entirely in your browser — no data is collected or transmitted.
This calculator was built by Dr. Vikas Trivedi, a General and Family Dentist at Parker Dental Studio in Parker, Colorado. He created it as a free resource because he saw firsthand as a dental student how confusing MRD calculations can be under clinical pressure.
MaxDose is 100% free, requires no sign-up, collects no patient data, and runs entirely in your browser. All calculations are based on published clinical guidelines.