A randomized placebo-controlled trial to evaluate a novel noninjectable anesthetic gel with thermosetting agent during scaling and root planing in chronic periodontitis patients

AIM: To study the efficacy of a noninjectable anesthetic gel with a thermosetting agent in the reduction of pain during scaling and root planing (SRP) in untreated chronic periodontitis patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study is a randomized, double-masked, split-mouth, placebo-controlled trial. Thirty patients were enrolled who underwent SRP in a split-mouth (right side/left side) manner. Before commencement of SRP, both quadrants on each side were isolated and had a randomized gel (either placebo or test gel) placed in the periodontal pockets for 30 s. The pain was measured using numerical rating scale (NRS) and verbal rating scale (VRS). RESULTS: The median NRS pain score for the patients treated with the anesthetic test gel was 1 (range: 0-4) as opposed to 5 (range: 3-7) in the placebo treated patients. The mean rank of pain score using NRS in test gel was 16.18 as compared to 44.82 in placebo treated sites. Hence, significant reduction in pain was found in test gel as compared to placebo using NRS (P < 0.001). The VRS showed that the majority of patients reported no pain or mild pain with a median of 1 as compared to placebo treated sites with a median of 2 suggestive of moderate pain. CONCLUSIONS: The NRS and VRS pain scores showed that the side treated with anesthetic gel was statistically more effective than the placebo in reducing pain during SRP.