Effect of a new local anesthetic buffering device on pain reduction during nerve block injections

The purpose of this double-blind, split-mouth, randomized human clinical study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a new sodium bicarbonate local anesthetic buffering device (Onset) in reducing pain associated with dental injections. Twenty patients were given bilateral inferior alveolar (IA) and long buccal (LB) nerve block injections and asked to quantify the pain experienced during injection on a visual analog scale (0, no pain; 10, worst possible pain). One side of the mouth received standard-of-care injections of 2% lidocaine with 1:100,000 epinephrine. On the opposite side, after the buffering device was used to mix the components within the anesthetic carpule, patients received injections of 2% lidocaine with 1:100,000 epinephrine buffered 9:1 with 8.4% sodium bicarbonate. The mean pain scores were 2.7 (SD, 1.3) for buffered and 2.7 (SD, 1.9) for unbuffered IA injections. The mean pain scores were 2.0 (SD, 1.4) for buffered and 2.7 (SD, 1.8) for unbuffered LB injections. The data were analyzed with a paired t test (α = 0.05), and no statistically significant difference was found between groups for IA (P = 0.94) or LB (P = 0.17) nerve block injections. In this study of patients receiving common dental nerve block injections, local anesthetic buffering technology did not significantly lessen pain compared to that experienced during a standard unbuffered injection.