Advances in Dental Local Anesthesia

Introduction: The injection of local anesthesia is conceivably the chief cause of patient fear and failure to acquire satisfactory pain control with slight discomfort which remains a substantial concern of dental practitioners. The attainment of good local anesthesia involves knowledge of the agents being used, the neuroanatomy involved, and greatest techniques and devices available. Although the traditional aspirating syringe still is the most common method by which local anesthetic are administrated, innovative technologies have been developed that can assist the dentist in providing augmented pain release with lessened injection pain and minutest adverse effects. Methods and Materials The articles published in English from 2000 to 2021 in PubMed/MEDLINE, and Google Scholar databases were searched electronically, using “dental anesthesia”, “local anesthesia delivery devices”, “local anesthesia delivery techniques” as search terms, and fifteen papers were selected after application of the inclusion and exclusion criteria, then were critically reviewed for comparison of the outcomes. Discussion Advances in dental local anesthesia devices and techniques can be classified into the following categories; Vibrotactile Devices (Vibrajet, DentalVibe, Accupal), Computer‑Controlled Local Anesthetic Delivery Systems (Wand/Compudent system, Comfort control system), Jet Injectors (Syrijet, MED‑JET H III), Safety Dental Syringes (Ultra Safety Plus XL syringe, UltraSafe Syringe, HypoSafety Syringe, SafetyWand, RevVac safety syringe), Devices for Intra‑Osseous (IO) Anesthesia (Stabident, X‑Tip, IntraFlow), Single Tooth Anesthesia( STA), Reversing Local Anesthesia, PH Buffering of Local Anesthesia. Conclusion Local anesthetics have made a major improvement in dentistry and have modified patients’ perceptions of dental procedures to a high extent. It is substantial for clinicians to be familiar with all the local anesthesia devices and techniques available for dental procedures to best exert them.