ABSTRACT
Background:Inferior alveolar nerve block has been widely used to anaesthetise the mandibular teeth. The other alternatives include the Gow-Gates and the Vazirani-Akinosi technique. This study aims to compare these three techniques of anaesthesia for posterior mandibular dentoalveolar surgery.Material & Method:Thirty subjects were equally distributed into three groups receiving the specific injection technique assigned to the group. The injection technique was performed using 3.6ml of 2% lignocaine with 1: 200000 adrenaline and clinical parameters such as onset of anaesthesia, pain in the injection site, extent of soft tissue anaesthesia and success rate of each block was assessed. Visual Analogue Scale was used to assess the pain experienced by the patient during theextraction procedure.Results:It was noted that the time taken for the onset of anaesthesia was the same in all the three groups. Vazirani-Akinosi group patients experienced significantly more pain on injection and during extraction of the tooth. Greaterextent of soft tissue anaesthesia was seen with the Gow-Gates technique when compared to the other two techniques. Conclusion:Gow-Gates technique demonstrated better efficiency when compared to the inferior alveolar or the Vazirani-Akinosi technique.