title: Comparison of efficacy among various topical anesthetics: An approach towards painless injections in periodontal surgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Local anesthetics (LAs) are most commonly used agents in dentistry. They are used to prevent the pain and nociception generated during dental procedures. Since pain associated at the time of injection of LA is uncomfortable, most of the dentists are on pursuit of painless administration of LA injection and use of topical anesthetics prior to the injection has proven effective in reducing anxiety and pain to the patient. The aim of this study is to compare pain responses after application of three types of topical anesthetics with control in the patients referred for periodontal full mouth flap surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 83 patients (42 males and 41 females) participated in the study with age group ranging from 30 to 50 years. The present study is to evaluate the efficacy of three topical anesthetics (Precaine gel, Benzocaine topical paste and Lignocaine spray) before infiltration in altering visual analog scale (VAS) scores of pain during LA injection. The statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 15.0 software. Repeated analysis of variance was performed to know the effect of each variable and reveal statistical significance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results revealed that Precaine gel had least VAS score compared with other topical anesthetics.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  From the present study, it can be concluded that procaine gel is a better than other topical LA agents, as the number of studies on this subject is rare and clinical results are mixed, further studies are required with a larger sample before its routine application in our field.
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontics, Sri Sai College of Dental Surgery, Vikarabad, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Koppolu
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontics, Sri Sai College of Dental Surgery, Vikarabad, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mishra
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Sri Sai College of Dental Surgery, Vikarabad, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Swapna
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Dental Sciences, Alfarabi Colleges, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Butchibabu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pedodontics, Sri Sai College of Dental Surgery, Vikarabad, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bagalkokar
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Dental Sciences, Alfarabi Colleges, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Kusai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Baroudi
keywords: Anesthetics; Precaine; lidocaine; local