Journal of Dental Medicine

Background and Aims: The inferior alveolar nerve block (IANB) is the most frequently used technique for mandibular anesthesia. Due to the many factors which can cause its failure, the aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of experience and knowledge in the success rate of IANB technique.
Materials and Methods: : In this study, 115 students of Shiraz Dental school were participated in two groups. One group contained 53 novice students and another group 62 students with one year experience in IANB injection. Each student accomplished injection once and then success or failure of the injection was examined. In order to evaluate the students’ knowledge, each student was asked to fill out a questioner including 6 questions related to the instruction of the injection. Data were then collected, coded, and analyzed by SPSS18 using Chi square with a significant level of 0.05.
Results: The rates of knowledge in novice and experienced group were 71.6% and 86.3%, respectively. The success rates of IANB were 47.1% in novice group and 64.3% in experienced group. The success rates of IANB and knowledge were significantly higher in the experienced group compared with the novice group. (P=0.02 and P=0.01, respectively) There was no significant difference between male and female (P=0.06).
Conclusion: The results showed that knowledge and experience could play an important role in the success rate of IANB technique.

Background and Aims: The surgical removal of mandibular third molar is frequently accompanied by significant postsurgical complications, and different protocols have been described to decrease such complications. The aim of this study was to compare the postoperative complications of mandibular impacted third molar removal with two conventional rotary and piezoelectric methods.
Materials and Methods: In this study 27 patients with bilateral mandibular impacted third molars were selected. The patients’ teeth were extracted by the piezoelectric method on a random side and the opposite tooth was extracted by conventional rotary technique. On operation and post operation days, edema, pain, and mouth opening were assessed. The duration of each operation was also measured. Data were analyzed by Mann-Whitney test and independent t-test.
Results: The mean duration of operation in the rotary group was less than that of the piezoelectric group, which was statistically significant (P=0.001). Pain was significantly higher in the rotary group on days 0 to 5 (P<0.05). Whereas, difference in pain on day 6 was not statistically significant (P=0.067). There was no significant difference between the two groups in each day after surgery regarding mouth opening (P>0.05). Edema was significantly higher in the rotary group on the first, third, and fifth days after surgery (P<0.05). Also, edema was higher in the rotary group on the seventh day after surgery, but not statistically significant (P=0.076).
Conclusion: According to the results of the present study, it can be concluded that pain and swelling in patients after impacted tooth surgery using time consuming piezoelectric technique can be reduced.