title: The position of lingula as an index for inferior alveolar nerve block injection in 7-11-year-old children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Inferior alveolar nerve block injection is one of the common intra oral anesthetic techniques, with a failure rate of 15-20%. The aim of this study was to evaluate the position of the lingula as an index for this injection.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty eight panoramic radiographs of 7-11 year old patients were analyzed and the distance between the lingula index and occlusal plane was measured. Then, lower alveolar nerve block injection was performed on 88 children. Finally, a visual analogue scale was used to measure the rate of pain in the patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This distance increased with age and in children younger than nine years is -0.45 mm on the right side and -0.95 mm on the left side. This distance in children older than 9 years is -0.23 mm on the right side and 0.47 mm on the left side. The success rates of inferior alveolar nerve block injection based on lingual index were 49% on the right side and 53.8% on the left side.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  As the lingual index has various positions and its distance from the occlusal plane increases with age, it is not an appropriate landmark for inferior alveolar nerve block injection.
authors.affiliation: Associate professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology Faculty of Dentisty, Shahid Sadough University of Medical Sciences Yazd, Iran.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ezoddini Ardakani
authors.forename: Zahra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Bahrololoumi
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zangouie Booshehri
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Navab Azam
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ayatollahi