The frequency of primary molar pulp anesthesia following inferior alveolar nerve block injection and its relationship with anesthesia of buccal gingival mucosa of primary molar teeth

Abstract

Introduction: The control of pain is one of the most important aspects of conducting a child's behavior that is performed by local anesthesia. This study aims to determine the frequency of pulpal anesthesia in the molar teeth after the inferior alveolar nerve block and its association with buccal gingival anesthesia. Materials and methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 91 children aged 4-6 years were randomly selected. First, the alveolar nerve block was performed for all children and its success was evaluated by a stick test. Then, carious removal started and the presence or absence of pain during procedure was measured by SEM scale. Reporting no pain during the work, considered as complete dental innervation from the inferior alveolar nerve and the presence of pain was considered as a potential secondary pulpal innervation. Buccal gingival anesthesia was evaluated with the stick test and outcomes was recorded. The data were analyzed by statistical methods. Findings: During the caries removal, 73.6% of the children had no pain. In 78.9% , 81.3% and 82.1% of children who mesio-buccal, mid-buccal and disto-buccal of attached gingiva were anesthetized wirh IANB and in 87%, 90.1% and 89.5% of children who mesio-buccal, mid buccal, and disto-buccal of mocoginguval junction were anesthetized with IANB, There was no pain during caries remical, and the pulp of the tooth was completely anesthetized, respectively. Conclusion: The prevalence of pulpal anesthesia after the IANB was 73.6%. In cases where IANB was successfull and gingiva adjacent to the molar teeth was anesthetized, the frequency of pulpal dental anesthesia was also higher, and in cases where gingiva adjacent to the molar teeth was not anesthetized after IANB, the frequency of pain reporting during careis removal was also higher. This poses the probability of secondary innervation to the dental pulp from the long buccal nerve.