Abstract: Provided herein are methods of locally and specifically anesthetizing nerve tissue in the trigeminal nerve pathway and methods of performing a surgical procedure on a subject in need thereof that include intranasally administering (1) a pharmaceutical composition that includes a local anesthetic agent and a mucosal absorption enhancer to a subject in need thereof, where the local anesthetic agent and mucosal absorption enhancer are present in an amount sufficient to anesthetize nerve tissue in the trigeminal nerve pathway upon administration, or (2) a pharmaceutical composition that include a free-base form of a local anesthetic agent, where the free-base form of the local anesthetic agent is present in an amount sufficient to anesthetize nerve tissue in the trigeminal nerve pathway upon administration.