Local anesthesia is the most common procedure in our daily dental practice. How to effective administration of a local anesthetic without pain and anxiety is a goal for every dentist. The use of topical anesthetics provides dentists to reduce patient's discomfort during injection of local anesthetics and some intra-operative procedures. This article is to review the development and update of topical anesthetics. In addition, it presents the efficacy in different conditions and clinical applications. (Taiwan J Pediatr Dent 2(4): 98-103, 2002)