LAUSR.org creates dashboard-style pages of related content for over 1.5 million academic articles. Sign Up to like articles & get recommendations!

The effect of a lidocaine/prilocaine topical anesthetic on pain and discomfort associated with orthodontic elastomeric separator placement

Photo from wikipedia

BackgroundThe initial placement of orthodontic elastomeric separators can be uncomfortable and painful. Therefore, it is important to relieve this disturbing sensation to create a discomfort or pain-free orthodontic visit. The… Click to show full abstract

BackgroundThe initial placement of orthodontic elastomeric separators can be uncomfortable and painful. Therefore, it is important to relieve this disturbing sensation to create a discomfort or pain-free orthodontic visit. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a lidocaine/prilocaine topical anesthetic on pain and discomfort associated with the placement of orthodontic elastomeric separators.MethodsFifty subjects aging between 20–35 years were included in this study. In the maxillary arch, a lidocaine/prilocaine topical anesthetic was placed around the ginigval margins of the premolar and molar on side. On the other side, a placebo agent was placed around the ginigval margins of the premolar and molar. After two minutes, an elastomeric separator was placed between the premolar and molar on both sides. The subjects were then asked to report their findings on a Verbal Scale and a Visual Analogue Scale every second minute for a period of 10 min. The subjects were also given a questionnaire to evaluate the overall impression on the topical anesthetic use.ResultsThe overall mean discomfort/pain score was found to be significantly lower (p < 0.001) with the topical anesthetic than with the placebo. Repeated measures ANOVA with a Greenhouse-Geisser correction determined that mean pain scores were statistically significantly low with the 10-min time duration (F(1.54,42.2) = 40.7, p = 0.001), with an estimated grand mean (8.37, 95% CI 6.75–9.98). The questionnaire responses revealed that 87% of the subjects reported an overall satisfaction and agreement with the topical anesthetic than with the placebo or no difference (13%) after the initial separator placement.ConclusionsThe discomfort and pain resulting from the initial placement of orthodontic elastomeric separators can be significantly reduced with the lidocaine/prilocaine topical anesthetic.

Keywords: lidocaine prilocaine; prilocaine topical; discomfort; topical anesthetic; orthodontic elastomeric; pain

Journal Title: Progress in Orthodontics
Year Published: 2017

Link to full text (if available)


Share on Social Media:                               Sign Up to like & get
recommendations!

Related content

More Information              News              Social Media              Video              Recommended



                Click one of the above tabs to view related content.