EFFICACY OF ARTICAINE VERSUS LIDOCAINE, AS A BUCCAL INFILTRATION COMBINED WITH INTRALIGAMENTARY INJECTION, IN MANDIBULAR MOLARS WITH IRREVERSIBLE PULPITIS- A CLINICAL TRIAL STUDY

Abstract

BACKGROUND Pain should be controlled before dental procedure, which is an essential step in reducing anxiety and fear. Local anaesthesia plays an important role in pain control before any endodontic treatment. Most common technique used to anaesthetize mandibular molar teeth during endodontic procedure is inferior alveolar nerve block (IANB) technique with 2% lidocaine.(1) METHODS 60 patients diagnosed with irreversible pulpitis of mandibular molar were selected, and were given buccal infiltration combined with intraligamentary injection by either 4% articaine (1:100000 epinephrine) or 2% lidocaine (1:80000 epinephrine) with 30 patients in each group. Endodontic access will be initiated 5 mintues after the deposition of infiltration and intraligamentary injection technique. Success will be defined as no pain or no more than mild pain before treatment, during endodontic access and instrumentation which will be measured on visual analogue scale. The Mann Whitney test was used to compare anaesthesia success between the groups. RESULTS The success rate after administration of 4% articaine as infiltration and intraligamentary was high (83.3%) as compared to that of 2% lidocaine (10.0%) (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS Buccal infiltration along with supplemental injection (intraligamentary) increased anaesthetic success rates for 4% articaine. Therefore, a combination of techniques should be considered prior to the root canal treatment of symptomatic irreversible pulpitis in mandibular molars.