The effectiveness of topical anesthesia to reduce needle insertion pain has been met with mixed results. In our study, topical anesthetic effectiveness was found to be related to the location of the injection. For the inferior alveolar nerve block injection (Figure), no significant difference was found between the no pain/pain ratings when topical anesthetic was [...]

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) [...]

A total of 1080 adult patients participated in this study. They received a total of 2336 injections. Patients included in this retrospective study were participants in 25 independent, cross-over anesthetic research studies conducted at The Ohio State University. All patients were in good health as determined by a written health history and oral questioning. No [...]

Fear of the needle has been reported as one of the major causes of apprehension in dental patients. Patients have reported that the feeling of the needle being inserted into the tissue is a chief source of anxiety. Empirically, it makes sense to attempt to reduce this source of anxiety and assure the patient that [...]