Perception of discomfort during injection and the need for supplemental anesthesia in the intraosseous technique using 4% articaine.

The authors conducted an experimental study to determine patient perception of discomfort during injection and the need for supplemental anesthesia using the intraosseous technique with 4% articaine with 1:100,000 epinephrine in patients with symptomatic pulpitis in mandibular molars. At different clinical sessions, researchers used 4% articaine with 1:100,000 epinephrine to apply intraosseous injection (Group 1) or inferior alveolar nerve block (Group 2). Each technique was applied in 35 patients. In each group, the need for additional anesthesia was determined and patient discomfort during injection was assessed with a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) test. In the intraosseous group, no supplemental technique was needed in 22 patients (62.85 %), and results were similar for the inferior alveolar technique (n: 23 65.71%). The intraosseous technique proved to be more comfortable than the mandibular technique (18 patients - 25.7%). This study found that the use of intraosseous technique with 4% articaine shows promising results regarding patient comfort and reducing the need for additional anesthesia.