The Journal of the American Dental Association
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Anesthetic efficacy of the palatal-anterior superior alveolar injection.
A single palatal-anterior superior alveolar, or P-ASA, injection has been reported to provide pulpal anesthesia of the four maxillary incisors and usually the canines. The authors conducted a prospective, randomized, double-blind study to compare the anesthetic efficacy of 2 percent lidocaine with 1:100,000 epinephrine and 3 percent mepivacaine using a computer-assisted injection system to administer the P-ASA injection. ⋯ Using the computer-assisted injection system for the P-ASA injection, we concluded that the rather modest-to-low success rates of the lidocaine and mepivacaine solutions would not ensure predictable pulpal anesthesia of the four maxillary incisors and the canines.
-
The authors conducted a study that considered family physicians' and dentists' knowledge and application of techniques to reduce the pain associated with anesthetic injections. They also assessed practitioners' discomfort with patients' injection pain and needle anxiety/phobia. ⋯ Pain reduction techniques for anesthetic injection cost little to implement, are not time liabilities, and can lessen avoidable pain and reduce the incidence of needle phobia.