[Is needleless anaesthesia effective?]

Needle phobia is an important reason to postpone a dental appointment.Needleless anaesthesia exists, but is it as effective as the conventionalmethods of dental anaesthesia? A literature review showed conclusionsto differ regarding the use of so-called jet injectors, which force a smallquantity of anaesthetic liquid through the mucosa under high pressure.According to some researchers, this technique works sufficiently wellin the deciduous dentition; this has, however, not been confirmed inall studies, nor is effectiveness guaranteed. Topical anaesthesia andanaesthesia for the maxillary teeth delivered via a nasal spray are gainingground but without a guarantee of effectiveness. It is thus difficult to takean unequivocal position on needleless anaesthetics at the moment dueto the lack of high-quality and sufficiently extensive studies available.More research is clearly required on these interesting and patient-friendlymethods of providing dental local anaesthesia.