Effectiveness of 5 % EMLA cream versus 20 % benzocaine gel as topical anesthetics in dentistry

الملخص EN

Objective: To investigate the difference in effectiveness of Eutectic Mixture of Local Anesthetics (EMLA) and Benzocaine as a topical anesthetic in palatal injection Methods: Forty volunteers from dental department at Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein Military Hospital participated in the study.

5% EMLA cream or 20% Benzocaine gel were applied to either side of the hard palate opposite the maxillary first premolars.

A short needle was inserted at site of topical anesthetic application at 3, 6 and 9 minutes until it touches the bone and the volunteers assisted the pain on a visual analogue scale (VAS) where 0 indicated "no pain" and 10 indicated "unbearable pain" Results: EMLA found to be associated with less pain than Benzocaine at all applied times and the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05).

There was no significant difference between inter-groups of EMLA or between those of Benzocaine.

EMLA found to be associated with less VAS values than Benzocaine and the difference was statistically significant Conclusion: 5% EMLA was more effective than 20% Benzocaine gel as a topical anesthetic agent in palatal injection