A Comparison between Articaine Mandibular Infiltration and Lidocaine Mandibular Block Anaesthesia in first Permanent Molars of Children Aged 8- 11 Years

One of the most important issues in pediatric dentistry is pain control during treatment. The inferior alveolar nerve block has some limitations as a conventional technique for the anesthesia of mandibular permanent molars, necessitating the use of alternative techniques, one of which is the infiltration technique. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of inferior alveolar dental nerve block using lidocaine with infiltration technique with articaine in mandibular first permanent molar anesthesia in children 8−11 year of age. In this randomized cross-over clinical trial on 42 children 8−11 year of age both mandibular first permanent molars were restored. Block or infiltration injection was selected randomly. Patient's behavior was registered in two steps of injection and restoration using the SEM scores. For comparison of the two sides, Wilcoxon signed rank test and SPSS 20 were used (α = 0.05). Based on the results, the infiltration technique resulted in a decrease in all the three SEM scores compared to block injection (p value < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the efficacy of these two anesthetic techniques (p value > 0.05). It appears that infiltration technique with articaine is a better alternative for block technique with lidocaine in the restoration of the mandibular first permanent molars.