Successes of Local Anesthesia Administered by Kuwaiti Dental Students

Background: Pain control is an essential part of the practice of dentistry and the most common method to achieve this goal is by the use of local anesthesia. Therefore, the success rate of its use is of great interest to us. Objectives: the aim of this study was to measure the frequency of use of local anesthesia for different procedures among 6th and 7th year dental students of Kuwait University. This study also aimed to measure the success rate of infiltration and mandibular block injections administered by these students. The objective was to provide a measure of failure rate as a feedback of the students' progress. Methods: Students in the 6th and the 7th year participated in the study. They were given marked cartridges to record the dose they used for the patient. The students were visited during clinical session and they filled the data sheets with information regarding the use of injection, the type of procedure, the dose used and feeling of numbness. The patients were interviewed by the investigators to ask about the level of pain. Results: The local anesthesia was used in 74% of the procedures. The total success rate was 74%. The success rate for inferior alveolar block was 55%. Over 93% of the patients reported feeling little or no pain at all. Conclusion: A high percentage of patients were pain free during various procedures. However, the percentage of success rate for mandibular block was somewhat lower than expected for some students, indicating a requirement for individual instructions. Acknowledgements: This elective study project was supervised by Dr. Lars Andersson.