title: Knowledge and practice of alternatives to the conventional inferior dental block amongst dentists in Lagos.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The conventional inferior alveolar nerve block (IANB) has been used for mandibular anaesthesia for many years. It is associated with a number of complications including failure of anaesthesia. Alternative techniques were therefore developed for the mandibular anaesthesia.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study is to evaluate the knowledge and practice of alternatives to the conventional inferior alveolar nerve block (IANB) amongst dentist in government owned hospitals in Lagos, Nigeria.
  
  
  METHODS
  Self administered questionnaires to assess the knowledge and practice of alternatives to the conventional inferior dental block for mandibular anaesthesia were sent to dentists in clinics situated in General hospitals and Teaching hospitals in Lagos. The information recorded included demographics (age and sex), institution of practice, and length of practice. The knowledge and practice of alternatives to the conventional IANB were also recorded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 90 questionnaires sent out, only 66 (73.3%) were returned. Most respondents 43 (65.5%) practiced in the tertiary institutions. All respondents used the conventional IANB as their primary technique. Difficulty to achieve anaesthesia due to trismus 22 (34.4%) and pain on injection 20 (32.3%) were the most common complications/difficulty associated with the IANB. Forty (60.6%) of the respondent practiced the Akinosi/Varzirani technique (AVT) as a secondary technique while only 1 had ever attempted the Gow-Gate technique (GGT). Both the knowledge and practice of the alternative techniques had a statistically significant relationship to both formal training and primary training institution (P < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Formal training in the use of alternative techniques to the IANB in achieving mandibular anaesthesia was a very important factor that determined the practice and knowledge of these techniques. Although the IANB was still the primarychoice for all of our respondents, there are claims by a lot of the respondents that with more formal training the alternatives will used more regularly.
authors.affiliation: Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department, College of Medicine, University of Lagos. lekangbotol@yahoo.co.uk
authors.forename: O M
authors.initials: OM
authors.lastname: Gbotolorun
authors.forename: A C O
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Olojede
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Afolabi-Bello
authors.forename: G T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Arotiba
mesh_terms: D000766:Anesthesia, Dental / Q000379:methods*; D000772:Anesthesia, Local / Q000379:methods*; D000779:Anesthetics, Local / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003815:Dentists; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007267:Injections; D008297:Male; D008340:Mandibular Nerve; D009407:Nerve Block / Q000379:methods*; D009549:Nigeria; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014081:Tooth Extraction
chemical_list: D000779:Anesthetics, Local