A Case Report on Contralateral Transient Diplopia After Regional Dental Anaesthesia: Do Anatomical Variations Play a Key Role?

One of the most common procedures in everyday dental surgical practice is the inferior alveolar nerve block anesthesia. The procedure is safe, though various complications may arise. Among them, ophthalmological complications such as temporary loss of vision, amaurosis, diplopia, or ophthalmoplegia are very rare, although they do occur. This case report highlights an inadvertent complication of contralateral temporary diplopia after inferior alveolar nerve block anesthesia that was administrated in a patient who was set to undergo root canal treatment. Anatomical variations of the middle meningeal arteries and maxillary arteries or the sympathetic vasoconstrictor nerve (carrying important sympathetic fibers) along with intravascular administration of the anesthetic may cause uncommon ophthalmological complications such as transient double vision.