Local anesthesia needle breakage in a 5-year-old child during inferior alveolar nerve block with the Vazirani-Akinosi technique.

Breakage of a local anesthetic needle in dentistry is a rare but potentially serious event. Here we describe a case of breakage of a hypodermic needle during administration of local anesthesia with a Vazirani-Akinosi mandibular nerve block in a 5-year-old uncooperative patient under moderate sedation with midazolam. The needle was localized using a fluoroscopy device and then removed under general anaesthesia. The postoperative course was unremarkable, without any neurological or vascular deficits.