Efficacy of greater auricular nerve block in eliminating pain during mandibular third molar extraction

ABSTRACT

Pain during mandibular third molar tooth surgery following conventional inferior alveolar nerve block [IANB] is quite common because of sub-optimal analgesia. A double- blind randomized controlled trial was done to evaluate the efficacy of extraoral greater auricular nerve block [GANB] as preemptive analgesia in patient undergoing surgical extraction of mandibular third molar class 2, 3 position B and C. This Study was conducted in minor oral surgical department at Armed Forces Institute of Dentistry from 6th Aug, 2012 to, 5th Feb 2014. A total of sixty patients were divided into two equal groups. Group A received conventional IANB along with GANB while group B was administered IANB only. In group A, 23[76.7%] patients experienced no pain while only 7[23.3%] patients experienced mild pain. While in group B, 6[20.0%] patients experienced no pain, 22[73.3%] experienced mild pain, 2[6.7%] patients experienced moderate pain. The difference was statistically significant [p-value0.0001].Based on this study it was concluded that perioperative pain can be eliminated by preemptive GANB analgesia in deep seated mandibular third molar extractions