Retrospective comparison of articaine buccal infiltration and lidocaine intraosseous anesthesia in carious mandibular molars.

Background: It is vital to identify more efficient anesthesia techniques for the restorative or endodontic treatment of mandibular molars. Both articaine buccal infiltration anesthesia (ABI) and lidocaine inferior alveolar nerve block anesthesia (LIANB) may not provide profound anesthesia, necessitating supplementary anesthesia. This study aimed to investigate whether lidocaine intraosseous lidocaine intraosseous anesthesia (LIO) is more suitable than ABI as primary anesthesia for caries treatment of mandibular molars. Methods: This study retrospectively analyzed patients treated for advanced caries according to the International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS) 5 and 6. The study involved 48 patients, split evenly between those receiving ABI and LIO, and examined the anesthesia success rate, pain during anesthesia, onset time, duration, and post-anesthesia lower lip numbness using Chi-square and Independent T-tests. Results: In the ABI group, 17 patients (70.8%) did not require additional anesthesia, whereas all 24 patients (100%) in the LIO group did not require additional anesthesia (P < 0.001). ABI was associated with significantly higher pain during anesthesia, slower onset time, and longer duration of anesthesia than LIO. There was no significant difference in post-anesthesia lower lip numbness between the two methods. Conclusion: Intraosseous anesthesia using lidocaine is more effective for treating severe caries in the mandibular molars because of its higher success rate, decreased pain during anesthesia, faster onset, and shorter recovery time.