Effectiveness of 20% Benzocaine as a Topical Anesthetic for Intraoral Injections: RESULTS

A total of 1080 patients with a mean age of 25 years (range 18-49 years) participated in this study and received a total of 2336 injections. There were 1635 injections (1121 men/514 women) in the inferior alveolar nerve block group with an age range of 18-49 years (mean = 25), 279 injections (197 men/82 women) in the maxillary first molar infiltration group with an age range of 19-43 years (mean = 26), and 422 injections (297 men/125 women) in the maxillary lateral incisor infiltration group with an age range of 19-43 years (mean = 26). Within the inferior alveolar nerve block group, 470 injections received topical anesthetic prior to needle insertion, whereas 1165 did not. In the maxillary lateral incisor infiltration group, 128 injections received topical anesthetic and 294 did not. In the maxillary first molar infiltration group, 122 injections received topical anesthetic prior to needle insertion and 157 received none. The age and sex of each subject, by individual injection within the topical and no topical groups, was not recorded in the original studies.

Table 1. Needle Insertion Pain Ratings by Area of Injection (%)
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Percent of injections with no pain on needle insertion.

The summary of reported pain upon needle insertion for each injection site is found in Table 1. In general, less than 24% of injections were considered to be of moderate-to-severe pain regardless of whether topical anesthetic was used. The Figure shows the needle insertion pain profile (pain vs no pain) for all 3 injection sites with and without topical anesthetic. Logistic regression analysis (controlling for study) for each group (Table 2) found no significant difference in reported needle insertion pain with the use of topical anesthesia compared with nonuse for the inferior alveolar nerve block group (P = .7363) and the maxillary molar infiltration injection group (P = .0994). Logistic regression analysis did find that the application of topical anesthetic significantly (P = .0041) reduced the pain of needle insertion with the maxillary lateral incisor infiltration group (Table 2). revatio 20 mg

Table 2. Logistic Regression Analysis for Topical Anesthetic Use