Year : 2019

Volume : Volume 10

Issue : Issue 1s

Abstract

Background:  Local anaesthetics are the safest and the most effective drugs in medicine for the prevention and management of pain. Injections of lignocaine as local anaesthetic for pain control in oral and maxillofacial surgery can be painful with onset of anaesthesia is from 3 to 5 min. Sodium bicarbonate has been used worldwide to reduce both these drawbacks to the injection, for  making procedures more acceptable.  Material and method: This randomised prospective trial of 55 patients aged above 18years who were given inferior alveolar nerve blocks was designed to assess the effect of alkalinisation of the lignocaine solution with sodium bicarbonate. All patients were given 2% lignocaine hydrochloride with adrenaline 1:80,000 and 55 patients (110 sites) were randomly allocated to be given 8.4% sodium bicarbonate in a 1/10 dilution. Pain was measured on a visual analogue scale (VAS).  Results: Our results have showed the efficacy of the alkalinised local anaesthetic solution in reducing pain on injection and resulting in quicker onset of anaesthesia. Conclusion: we concluded that bicarbonate alkalinisation is an effective, practical and inexpensive method of decreasing the discomfort experienced by patients receiving local anaesthetic with rapid onset of anaesthesia and increased duration of anaesthesia.

Keywords: Lidocaine, Alkalinisation, Sodium bicarbonate, Pain, Onset of anaesthesia.