Efficacy of an intrapocket anesthetic for scaling and root planing procedures: a review of three multicenter studies.

In recent years, three multicenter studies have been conducted to evaluate the clinical efficacy of an active 5% dental gel to reduce pain when placed into periodontal pockets before initiating scaling and root planing procedures. In each of the clinical studies, the researchers found statistically significant differences between the pain scores of the active dental gel group and the placebo gel group that favored the active gel for the control of pain during periodontal scaling and root planing procedures. This article reviews each of the three studies and highlights some of the differences among them.