Efficacy and Safety of a Lidocaine Gel in Patients from 6 Months up to 8 Years with Acute Painful Sites in the Oral Cavity: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Double-Blind, Comparative Study

Lidocaine is a well-accepted topical anaesthetic, also used in minors to treat painful conditions on mucosal membranes. This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study (registered prospectively as EudraCT number 2011-005336-25) was designed to generate efficacy and safety data for a lidocaine gel (2%) in younger children with painful conditions in the oral cavity. One hundred sixty-one children were included in two subgroups: 4–8 years, average age 6.4 years, treated with verum or placebo and 6 months–<4 years, average age 1.8 years, treated only with verum. Pain reduction was measured from the time prior to administration to 10 or 30 minutes after. In addition, adverse events and local tolerability were evaluated. In group I, pain was reduced significantly after treatment with verum compared to placebo at both time points. In group II, the individual pain rating shift showed statistically significant lower pain after treatment. Only seven out of 161 patients reported an adverse event but none were classified as being related to the study medication. The local tolerability was assessed as very good in over 97% of cases. For painful sites in the oral cavity, a 2% lidocaine gel is a meaningful tool for short-term treatment in the paediatric population.