Comparison of 2% and 4% Articaine Solutions in Infraorbitary Blocking

Objectives: This double-blinded crossover study aimed to compare the anesthetic efficacy of 4% and 2% articaine solutions, both associated with 1:200.000 epinephrine, administered as infraorbitary blocking.
Methods: For achieving this, 58 volunteers were anesthetized, by randomly using one of the two anesthetic solutions. Onset and duration of pulpal anesthesia were tested by using a pulp tester, while onset and duration of gingival anesthesia were tested by using a wood stick with a blunt end. Besides this, other aspects were also evaluated by using a visual analogic scale, such as the volunteer’s pain due to the injection of the anesthetic solution and the post-operatory pain (after the end of the anesthetic effect), as well as the occurrence of post-operatory complications.
Results: Onset of pulpal anesthesia for both solutions were from 2 to 4 minutes. There has been no statistically significant difference between the solutions in respect to the proportion of teeth that have undergone anesthesia as well as the proportion of buccal and palatal gingival anesthesia. The anesthesia success of palatal gingiva was low for both solutions. The 4% articaine solution provided longer pulpal and buccal gingival anesthesia for the lateral incisor, canine, first and second premolars (p<0,05) No significant differences were observed between solutions when analyzing the pain during their injection and the post-operatory pain.
Conclusions: It is concluded that the higher concentrated one provided longer pulpal and soft tissue anesthesia.