COMPARISON OF DURATION OF ACTION OF BUFFERED AND NON-BUFFERED LOCAL ANAESTHETICS IN INFERIOR ALVEOLAR NERVE BLOCK: A RANDOMIZED DOUBLE-BLINDED CONTROLLED STUDY

Abstract

One of the desirable properties of local anaesthetic agents (LA) is the sufficient duration of anaesthesia. This study
aimed to compare the duration of action of buffered and non-buffered 2% lignocaine with 1:100,000 adrenaline in
inferior alveolar nerve block. This was a randomised double-blinded controlled study conducted over a period of 7
months at the Dental Clinic, Usman Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto. Ethical approval was obtained
from the institution’s Research and Ethics committee, and all consenting patients aged 18 years and above screened
for routine extraction of permanent mandibular molars and who met the selection criteria were recruited. A simple
random sampling technique was employed in allocating study participants into buffered and non-buffered groups as
A and B respectively. Participants’ demographics were recorded. The duration of action was measured using two
different techniques as D1 and D2. D1 was the time (measured in minutes) from the onset of the local anaesthesia to
the first feeling of painful sensation after the extraction and D2 was the time from the onset of the local anaesthesia to
the total recovery of sensation of the lower lip. Data obtained were analysed using SPSS version 21.0. There were
62(51.7%) males and 58(48.3%) females in the age range of 18 to 74 years with a mean±SD of 38.6±14.1 years. There
was no statistically significant difference between the duration of action of sodium bicarbonate buffered and non-
buffered 2% lignocaine with adrenaline in both techniquesD1 (p=0.659) D2 (p=0.428). Buffering of LA did not affect
the duration of the anaesthesia. However more clinical trials are recommended to draw a more accurate conclusion