Emergency Preparedness for Local Anesthetic Systemic Toxicity in Dental Practice: Dentists' Knowledge, Awareness, and...

This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and clinical awareness of local anesthetic systemic toxicity (LAST), preventive practices, knowledge of lipid emulsion therapy, and institutional availability among dentists actively practicing in Türkiye, and to examine the demographic and professional factors associated with knowledge level.

This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted using a 15-item online questionnaire developed by the researchers. The analyses included 369 dentists actively practicing in Türkiye. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the Kruskal-Wallis test, Dunn-Bonferroni pairwise comparisons, Spearman rank correlation, and multinomial logistic regression analysis.

Among the participants, 45.8% reported having basic knowledge of LAST, whereas only 2.7% reported detailed knowledge, including the management steps. Although 40.1% stated that they calculated the local anesthetic dose according to the patient's body weight, only 3.3% reported preparing an emergency response plan for LAST, and 2.2% indicated that they were prepared to use treatment options such as lipid emulsion. Regarding lipid emulsion therapy, 59.1% of participants had low knowledge and 24.4% had superficial knowledge; only 0.5% reported detailed knowledge of the administration steps and dosing protocol. In terms of institutional availability, 45.0% did not know whether lipid emulsion was available at their institution, 40.9% reported that it was unavailable, and 14.1% reported that it was available. Knowledge levels differed according to professional status; however, the effect size was small (H(2) = 13.129; p = 0.001; ε² = 0.030). No statistically significant association was found between years of professional experience and knowledge level (ρ = 0.020; p = 0.702).

Although dentists' self-reported awareness of LAST varied, detailed knowledge of the administration steps and dosing protocol for lipid emulsion therapy, as well as institutional preparedness, remained limited. The findings suggest that strengthening practice-oriented education on the prevention and management of LAST and reviewing lipid emulsion availability and emergency response protocols in clinical institutions may be beneficial.