Intraligamentary anaesthesia as a possible anaesthetic option in oral implantology: a retrospective analysis

This investigation was conducted to analyse the usefulness of intraligamentary anaesthesia (ILA) as an alternative anaesthetic procedure in oral implantology. Forty consecutive patients with single-tooth gaps in the posterior mandible were included in the analysis. Implant insertion was performed after ILA of the gap-delimiting teeth (two injections distal to the mesial tooth, two injections mesial to the distal tooth). Implant surgery was performed successfully under ILA of the gap-delimiting teeth in 39 cases. Injection pain correlated significantly with lower periodontal probing depths (<3mm) of the delimiting teeth (P=0.003). The total amount of anaesthetic solution and the pain during surgery were significantly higher if a root canal-treated tooth was present in the area of surgery (P=0.010 and P=0.020, respectively). Overall, the mean pain score during treatment was low at 0.76±0.51 on a numerical rating scale from 0 to 10. At the control visit, no major complication was encountered. All implants were successfully restored with single crowns after a healing period of 2 months. Taking into consideration the limitations of the study, ILA seems to fulfil all conditions to be defined as an alternative, minimally invasive anaesthetic technique for the insertion of single-gap implants.