Skip to main content
2023 AAOMS 105th Annual Meeting Main banner
Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Presentation Icons
Live-streamed <br><i>This session is live-streamed.</i>
Live-streamed
This session is live-streamed.
Closed Captions<br><i>Closed Captioning Available</i>
Closed Captions
Closed Captioning Available
Ticketed <br><i>This session/event requires a ticket.</i>
Ticketed
This session/event requires a ticket.
Sold Out<br><i>This ticketed session/event is sold out.</i>
Sold Out
This ticketed session/event is sold out.
Recorded<br><i>This session will be recorded and available beginning Oct. 2.</i>
Recorded
This session will be recorded and available beginning Oct. 2.
On-demand<br><i>On-demand session available beginning Sept. 18.</i>
On-demand
On-demand session available beginning Sept. 18.
In-person only<br><i>This session is offered in-person only.</i>
In-person only
This session is offered in-person only.
2023 Oral Abstract Winner
2023 Oral Abstract Winner
Poster Icons
Poster Winner
Poster Winner
Back

Anesthesia

(4) A Comparison of the Effects of EMLA Cream and Topical 5% Lidocaine on Discomfort During Palatal Injection

Thursday, September 21, 2023
1:30 PM – 3:00 PM PDT
Disclosure(s):
Mahtasadat Afradeh, MPH: No financial relationships to disclose
Abstract:

Background: Local anesthesia of the palatal mucosa is crucial for painless penetration of soft palate tissue during dental procedures. The administration of anesthetic agents to the palate can be very painful due to the region's mucosa being closely attached to the periosteum bone and having multiple peripheral nerves. The palatal mucosa is a commonly used area for local anesthesia and serves as an accurate test for assessing the effectiveness of topical anesthetics. The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of EMLA cream and lidocaine ointment in reducing the amount of injection pain experienced by the greater palatine nerve.
Materials and

Methods: This clinical trial was conducted on patients referred to the School of Dentistry, Islamic Azad University, Tehran in 2020, who were aged 18 years or older and had indications for bilateral greater palatine nerve injection. Among them, 20 patients were selected for the study. EMLA cream 5% (lidocaine 2.5% and prilocaine 2.5%, Astra USA, Westborough, MA) was applied to the right side and Lidocaine 5% ointment (ICPA Health Product, India) was applied to the left side, in the area of exit of the nerve near the maxillary second molar. After 5 minutes, 30-gauge needle and 1 cartridge (1.8 ml) of local anesthetic lidocaine 2% with epinephrine 1/100000 were used for nerve blocking. Pain intensity was measured using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and the data were analyzed with the Mann-Whitney U test.

Results: The data showed that 15 patients reported less injection pain after using EMLA cream 5%, while 5 patients reported less pain after using Lidocaine 5% ointment. According to the Mann-Whitney U test, the difference in VAS scores was statistically significant (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: The study suggests that the use of local anesthesia (EMLA cream and Lidocaine ointment) before greater palatine nerve injection is effective in reducing pain in patients. The comparison in this study showed that EMLA cream 5% is more effective than Lidocaine ointment 5%.

References:
Donaldson, D., & Meechan, J. G. (1995). A comparison of the effects of EMLA cream and topical 5% lidocaine on discomfort during gingival probing. Anesthesia progress, 42(1), 7.
AlWeshah, M., AlGananeem, M., AlSakarna, B., Rahamneh, A., & Alhammory, E. (2017). Effectiveness of 5% EMLA cream versus 20% Benzocaine gel as topical anesthetics in Dentistry. JRMS, 24(2), 41-47.