Comparison of the Pain Score Following Articaine Local Infusion and Lidocaine Nerve Block in Extraction of Lower Posterior Teeth: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Introduction: We aimed to compare pain scores among patients undergoing lower posterior tooth extraction who were anesthetized with either articaine local infusion or lidocaine inferior alveolar nerve block (IANB). Method: The study sample was randomly divided into two groups (30 for each). The first group was anesthetized using 2% lidocaine with 1:80,000 adrenaline by IANB, while the second group was anesthetized using 4% articaine with 1:100,000 adrenaline via buccal and lingual infiltration. A visual analog scale was used to assess pain. Results: Our results showed the type of anesthesia (lidocaine or articaine) was not a significant predicator for pain (estimate: 0.882, P = 0.2433, odds ratio [OR]: 2.415). Female subjects and lower ages reported higher pain scores, but gender (estimate: −2.007, P = 0.0258, OR: 0.134), and age (estimate: −0.134, P = 0.0147, OR: 0.875) were significant predicators for pain. Conclusion: Patients undergoing lower posterior tooth extraction, who were anesthetized with either articaine local infusion or lidocaine IANB, reported the same pain scores.