A survey to evaluate and compare patients perception to pain, pressure and discomfort induced by types of injection techniques used for mandibular anaesthesia

Abstract

Local anaesthesia makes the patient and the dentist comfortable to do treatment with least amount of discomfort, but dental patient’s most frequent fear is of receiving local anaesthetic injections. The present study attempted to evaluate and compare patient’s perception to pain, pressure and discomfort induced by three types of injections (Infiltration, mental nerve block and inferior alveolar nerve block injection) for mandibular anaesthesia. Patients were asked to grade pain, pressure and discomfort associated with injection insertion on visual analog scale. Inferior alveolar nerve block was graded the most painful nerve block, while Infiltration was graded as the least painful. Patient’s perception to pressure and discomfort was highest for inferior alveolar nerve block and lowest to mental nerve block.