This is a critical appraisal of a Cochrane review first published in December 2010. The appraisal was prepared under the auspices of the American Dental Associations Centre for Evidence-based Dentistry The objective of the Cochrane review was to determine if adjusting the pH of lidocaine had any effect on pain resulting from non-intravascular injections in [read the full story…]
Modern local anaesthetics have transformed the practice of dentistry. However a proportion of injections fail to achieve pulpal anaesthesia. This trial set out to find if the addition of mannitol to lidocaine with epinephrine improved its efficacy. Forty patients were randomised to receive an inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) block in 3 separate appointments spaced at [read the full story…]
The aim of the study was to compare the anaesthetic efficacy of buccal infiltrations of 4% articaine with epinephrine (1:100,000) and 2% lidocaine with epinephrine (1:80,000) in achieving anaesthesia in maxillary permanent teeth with irreversible pulpitis. Patients aged 16 years and over who presenting with irreversible pulpitis in one tooth and an asymptomatic vital tooth [read the full story…]
The inferior alveolar nerve block (IANB) does not always result in successful pulpal anaesthesia with studies noting failure rates between 44% and 81%. Previous studies have suggested that preoperative medication might increase the success rate of the IANB. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of the administration of the combination of [read the full story…]
Soft-tissue numbness after local anaesthesia is considerably longer than pulpal anaesthesia and the duration of the typical dental appointment. This often impacts on patients normal daily activities. The aim of this randomized, single-blind study was to evaluate the reversal of soft-tissue anaesthesia using phentolamine in asymptomatic endodontic patients. Adults patients requiring endodontic therapy in a [read the full story…]
Articaine is a common local anaesthetic agent that shows greater lipid solubility than lidocaine, allowing enhanced diffusion through nerve sheaths. It also has an increased potency compared with lidocaine. The aim of this study was to compare the anaesthetic efficacy of 4% articaine with epinephrine (1:100,000) and without epinephrine in inferior alveolar nerve block anaesthesia [read the full story…]
This systematic review was originally published in the Journal of Dentistry in 2010. The Centre for Reviews and Dissemination have now appraised the quality of the review and written a structured abstract of it. They conclude that the review conducted a comprehensive search strategy, with a risk of some publication bias due to their inclusion [read the full story…]
Inferior alveolar nerve block (IANB) is the most frequently used injection technique for achieving local anaesthesia for root canal treatment of mandibular teeth. However it is not always successful in endodontics with studies failure rates occurring between 44% and 81% of the time. The aim of this randomised trial was to determine the effect of [read the full story…]
