Can computerized intraosseous anaesthesia replaces the inferior alveolar nerve block in children? A randomized controlled clinical trial

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to compare the efficacy of computerized intraosseous anaesthesia (CIOA) administered through the QuickSleeper 5™ system with conventional inferior alveolar nerve block (IANB) in paediatric dental patients. The primary objective was to assess pain perception, efficacy, anaesthesia onset time and duration of anaesthesia between the two techniques. Materials and Methods: A total of 52 paediatric participants were enrolled in this study. Using a split-mouth design, each child received CIOA on one side and IANB on the other to perform pulpotomy for lower primary second molars. Pain perception was measured by the Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, and Consolability (FLACC) scale. Efficacy of anaesthesia was measured by FLACC scale during the pulpotomy procedure. Onset time and duration of anaesthesia for anaesthesia was recorded in minutes for both techniques. Results: CIOA demonstrated significantly lower pain scores compared to IANB (mean pain score = 3.5, 5.75, respectively). IANB showed a success rate of 77%, whereas CIOA showed a success rate of 92%. Moreover, CIOA exhibited a faster onset of anaesthesia (the mean onset time of IANB and CIOA was 3.4 min ±1.1 and 0.2 min ±0.5, respectively). There was no significant difference regarding the duration of anaesthesia between the two techniques (p-value >0.05). Conclusion: It was concluded that CIOA causes less pain than IANB. The success rates of both CIOA and IANB were 92% and 77%, respectively. The onset time of anaesthesia was faster in CIOA compared to IANB. However, there was no difference between the two studied techniques regarding the duration of anaesthesia.