Dentists increasingly use articaine 

An interesting article titled “Survey investigation of articaine use in the United States,” written by Robert D. Bowers and et. al. appears in the the Journal of the American Dental Association (published Oct. 2023). The article conducted a study to expand the knowledge of local anesthesia practices of dentists in the U.S. with a specific focus on influencing factors regarding articaine. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of articaine in 2000 and dental use of articaine has grown over the years. In 2017, it was estimated that estimate about 40% of the total U.S. dental local anesthetic market was for articaine. However, articaine has a 4% concentration which has led some to question its safety. Past studies have shown that higher concentrated local anesthetics like articaine can lead to increased risk of dental paresthesia. To study the use … Read more

Articaine versus Bupivacaine Anesthetic Effectiveness for Lower Teeth Extraction

An interesting article titled “A Comparative Evaluation of Anesthetic Effectiveness of 4% Articaine vs 0.5% Bupivacaine for Lower Molar Tooth Extraction” appears in Cureus in December 16, 2022, written by Tenglikar P, Manas A, Sahoo A, et al. (vol. 14, no. 12, pp. e32611). The article discusses the differences in the effectiveness of two common local anesthesia agents used in dentistry to control pain. The authors set out to explore the the effectiveness of 0.5% bupivacaine with 4% articaine in lower tooth extraction based on duration of anesthesia, onset, and pain perception along with observing blood pressure and heart rate. Today lidocaine (lignocaine) is extensively used as a local anesthestic agent in dentistry to control pain. Other anesthestic agents exists including bupivacaine and articaine. The authors conducted a randomized controlled study of patients having lower teeth extracted from June 2017 to October … Read more