Comparison of anesthetic efficacy of 4% articaine versus 2% lignocaine

Abstract

Objective: Lignocaine is the most widely used local anesthetic agent in dentistry. It has been labeled as the “gold standard” to which all new local anesthetics are compared. Aim: The aim of this prospective, randomized study was to compare the anesthetic effi cacy of 4% articaine HCl with 1:100,000 adrenaline in comparison with 2% lignocaine HCl with 1:80,000 adrenaline in extraction of maxillary premolars for orthodontic considerations. Materials and Methods: A total of fi fty patients were included in this study. Drug volume, onset and duration of anesthesia, pain during injection and extraction, and postanesthetic complications were recorded for all patients. The values were compared and analyzed statistically using paired t-test. Results: In the present study, drug volume solution for articaine group was less than that of lignocaine group. The mean difference in pain rating (for palatal injection), onset, and also duration of anesthesia for articaine was highly signifi cant statistically on palatal aspect (P < 0.001). Conclusion: The present investigation asserts that articaine HCl has shorter onset time, longer duration of action, and similar effi cacy to lignocaine HCl and thus can also be used. Further controlled comparative clinical trials with similar local anesthetic agents in oral cavity with multicenter studies and a larger sample size are desirable to bring valuable attention to this research area and evaluate the safety and clinical efficacy of articaine HCl.

Keywords

• Articaine
• dental surgery
• injection
• lignocaine
• local anesthesia