Assessment of Intraoperative Pain in Mandibular Third Molar Extractions with Articaine- A Retrospective Study

Pain control through block of the inferior alveolar nerve is one of the loco regional anaesthetic techniques most widely used in oral surgery. Comparative study is made of the anaesthetic efficacy of articaine versus lidocaine during the surgical extraction of mandibular third molars. This is a Retrospective study conducted in the university setting. This study included patients who reported to private dental hospital for the removal of mandibular third molars. Inclusion criteria of this study included patients who required removal of mandibular third molars and exclusion criteria included patients with drug allergies and patients who are pregnant or currently lactating. Data was collected and tabulated in excel. Data was analysed using IBM SPSS Statistical Analyzer(23.0 version). Frequency distribution and descriptive analysis were carried out. The association between the variables was analysed and assessed using Pearson Chi-square test. P value < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Patients experienced less intraoperative pain with the administration of articaine compared to lidocaine. Anaesthetic efficacy and duration of action were found to be superior with articaine over lidocaine