English

Abstract

BACKGROUND Local anaesthetics helps in preventing pain during surgical and dental procedures by blocking the peripheral nerves. The primary objective of this investigation was to compare and evaluate 4 % articaine hydrochloride (with 1 : 100000 adrenaline) and 2 % lignocaine hydrochloride (with 1 : 80000 adrenaline) in terms of pulpal anaesthesia, volume of anaesthetic solution administered, need of re-anaesthesia and difficulty of extraction during orthodontic extraction of maxillary first premolars. METHODS This prospective randomized, double-blinded study was conducted on 43 patients of less than 40 years of age requiring bilateral maxillary first premolar extractions for orthodontic purposes. Each patient was randomly assigned to receive either 2 % lignocaine hydrochloride or 4 % articaine hydrochloride for premolar extraction of one side and other solution was administered for premolar extraction of contralateral side spaced 1 to 3 weeks apart. In each patient, the difference in pulpal anaesthesia, volume of anaesthetic solution administered, need of re-anaesthesia, difficulty of extraction and duration of anaesthesia was assessed on administration of lignocaine hydrochloride and articaine hydrochloride. RESULTS Statistically significant difference in pulpal anaesthesia levels was found when the articaine and lignocaine groups (P > 0.05) were compared, with a higher mean pulpal anaesthesia among the articaine group. There was no difference in volume of anaesthetic solution administered on buccal and palatal side among the articaine and lignocaine groups. Only 2.3 % of patients in both the groups required re-anaesthesia on the buccal side. There was no significant difference in difficulty of extraction in both the groups. The articaine group had a longer mean duration of anaesthesia as compared to the lignocaine group which was highly significant. CONCLUSIONS Articaine may be used to replace lignocaine in orthodontic extraction of maxillary premolars with clinical advantages like higher pulpal anaesthesia and longer duration of anaesthesia. KEY WORDS Local Anaesthetic, Lignocaine Hydrochloride, Articaine Hydrochloride, Orthodontic Extraction, Prospective Study, Double-Blinded Study.