Anesthetic efficacy of 4% articaine versus 2% lignocaine during the surgical removal of the third molar: A comparative prospective study

AIM: The study aimed at evaluating the clinical efficacy of articaine over lidocaine in the surgical removal of impacted mandibular third molars. OBJECTIVE: The objectives were to compare the onset of anesthesia, pain during injection, during the procedure and after the procedure, compare the duration of anesthesia, and need for re-anesthesia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective study was conducted on 70 subjects planned for surgical removal of mandibular third molars. Subjects were randomly administered one of two local anesthetics. The anesthetic agent used was unknown for the patient and the observer who performed the measurements. RESULTS: The differences in latency with 4% articaine (56.57 ± 9.8 s) and with 2% lignocaine (88.26 ± 12.87 s), pain during procedure for articaine 1.31 ± 0.87 and for lignocaine 2.60 ± 1.06, pain after procedure was 0.89 ± 0.58 for articaine and 1.31 ± 1.05 for lignocaine, and mean duration of anesthetic effect for articaine was 231 ± 57.15 min and 174.80 ± 37.02 min for lignocaine, which was statistically significant. For re-anesthesia, 6 out of 35 patients needed re-anesthesia at the frequency of 8.57% for articaine and 13 out of 35 patients needed re-anesthesia at a frequency of 18.57% for lignocaine. CONCLUSION: The results proved that articaine had a significant faster onset of action and longer duration of action when compared to lignocaine. Hence, the pain experienced by the patients during and after the surgical procedure was significantly less. The study was concluded that articaine is a safe alternative to lignocaine, which is potent and effective in minor surgical procedures such as removal of mandibular third molars.