Effect of warming local anesthesia solutions before intraoral administration in dentistry: a systematic review

BACKGROUND: The aim of the present systematic review was to evaluate and compare the efficacy of warmed and unwarmed local anesthesia solutions in reduction of pain during intraoral injection administration. METHODS: PubMed, Ovid SP, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched from publication years 1990 to 2020 with relevant MeSH terms. Studies were screened by titles and abstracts, followed by full-texts evaluation of the included studies. RESULTS: A total of four studies were included in the systematic review. Outcomes evaluated were subjective and objective pain during administration of the warmed local anesthesia solution in comparison with the unwarmed local anesthesia solution. Among the four studies that evaluated the self-reported pain score, three studies showed significantly lower pain scores associated with warmed local anesthesia. Only two studies evaluated the observed pain score, and both of them reported a significantly lower pain reaction with the warmed local anesthesia solution. CONCLUSION: Within the limits of this systematic review, warming the local anesthesia solution to body temperature (37℃) before administration seemed to reduce the discomfort during intraoral local anaesthesia administration, and more high-quality studies should be carried out to validate the same.