Local anesthesia use among brasilian pedodontis

Pain control is a fundamental aspect of children’s dental treatment. This study was developed during the year 2000 and presents the results of a survey carried among pedodontists practicing in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Objective: The main goals of this survey were to verify the knowledge and behavior of the studied population (N=65) regarding the use of local anesthesia in pediatric dentistry. Methods: The questionnaires were sent by mail to a simple random sample of pedodontists registered by the Rio de Janeiro Dental Council. The data were analyzed using EpiInfo 6.0 statistical software. Results: Twenty three professionals received their certificate in pediartic dentistry and were in private practice for 10 years or less. A greater number of pedodontists in this survey (42) had their certificate for more than 10 years and were actually practicing this specialty for this period of time. Most of the pedodontists (53.8%) did provide local anesthesia to small children. Prilocaine (66.2%) was the local anesthetic most chosen by the pedodontists. Although 96.9% of the studied believed that only one cartridge provides good nerve block in children, 53.8% of them usually administered one cartridge of anesthetics, as maximum dose, to children up to 4 years of age. Children between 4 and 10 years old received one and a half cartridges of anesthetics as maximum dose by 43.1% of the pedodontists. The inferior alveolar nerve block was the technique most used (66.2%) in treating deciduous inferior molars. Conclusion: All pedodontists in this survey seemed to be fairly updated with the administration of local anesthetics and were concerned with pain control in their daily practice.