Anesthetic efficacy of an infiltration in mandibular anterior teeth following an inferior alveolar nerve block.

The purpose of this prospective, randomized, blinded study was to measure the degree of pulpal anesthesia obtained with an inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) block followed by an infiltration in mandibular anterior teeth. Through use of a repeated-measures design, 40 patients randomly received 3 injection combinations at 3 separate appointments: an IAN block followed by a mock lingual infiltration and a mock labial infiltration, an IAN block followed by a mock lingual infiltration and a labial infiltration, and an IAN block followed by a mock labial infiltration and a lingual infiltration. Each IAN block used 3.6 mL of 2% lidocaine with 1:100,000 epinephrine, and each infiltration used 1.8 mL of 2% lidocaine with 1:100,000 epinephrine administered over the lateral incisor apex. Mandibular anterior teeth were blindly pulp tested at 2-minute cycles for 60 minutes following the IAN-infiltration injections. No response from the patient to the maximum output (80 reading) of the pulp tester was used as the criterion for pulpal anesthesia. Anesthesia was considered successful when 2 consecutive 80 readings were obtained within 15 minutes and the 80 reading was sustained for 60 minutes. Anesthesia was considered a failure if 2 consecutive 80 readings were not obtained during the 60 minutes. The results of this study showed that 100% of the patients had lip numbness with all IAN blocks. For the lateral incisor, the success rate of the IAN block alone was 40% and the failure rate was 30%. For the IAN block plus labial infiltration, the success rate was 62% and the failure rate was 12% for the lateral incisor. There was a significant difference (P < .05) between the IAN block alone and the IAN block plus labial infiltration. In conclusion, a labial infiltration, over the lateral incisor apex, of 1.8 mL of 2% lidocaine with 1:100,000 epinephrine following an IAN block significantly improved pulpal anesthesia for the lateral incisor compared with the IAN block alone.