Abstract
Background: The Inferior Alveolar Nerve Block (IANB) and other nerve blocks are associated with an increased risk of nerve injury. Articaine-only infiltrations, which include buccal injections, are recently showing comparable effectiveness to Lidocaine IAN blocks for mandibular teeth, therefore reducing the need for an IAN block. The study aims to assess Articaine only infiltration (AOBIT) effectiveness in administering local anaesthesia for monotonous mandibular teeth extractions in adults. Methods: This research consist 172 patients, both male and female, varying in age from 18 to 75 years. In all 204 mandibular teeth in which 182 excessively decayed mandibular molars and 22 premolars were extracted. The local anaesthesia was given by a specialist OS and extraction was done by UG students under the super-vision of consultant. AOBIT effectiveness was assessed in contrast to the necessity for repeated Articaine infiltrations or rescue IANB with Lidocaine 2%. Results: From the total of 172 patients; 96 (55.8%) were males and 76 (44.2%) were females. Age range was from 18-75 years with the mean of 40 +/- 13.7 years. depending only on the AOBIT, sufficient anaesthesia was obtained in 86.7 % of 172 patients and 204 teeth, In the remaining 13.3% of patients, a `rescue' 2% Lidocaine IAN block is required. Conclusion: For normal adult mandibular tooth extractions, Articaine 4% alone (AOBIT) technique of buccal infiltration might be a good alternative to Inferior-Alveolar-Nerve-Block with Lidocaine 2%, success rate was remarkable and this technique could help in reducing nerve injuries due to IAN and lingual nerve blocks.