"Sodium bicarbonate": an adjunct to painless palatal anesthesia.

PURPOSE: It is believed that whenever we inject local anesthesia into the palate it is a painful experience for the patients. The aim of this study was to make palatal anesthesia painless by adding 7.4% sodium bicarbonate as an adjunct in local anesthesia. METHODS: Fifty subjects requiring extraction of maxillary bilateral premolar teeth for orthodontic purpose free from periapical infections. These extractions were divided in such a way that all right-sided extractions were done under 2% lignocaine with 1:80,000 adrenaline; and all left-sided extractions were done under 2% lignocaine with 1:80,000 adrenaline with 7.4% sodium bicarbonate added. All extractions were performed using a consistent intra-alveolar technique by a single operator. Both the patient and the operator were blinded to the contents of the local anesthetic solution. Data records of these patients were procured on the basis of VAS and VRS, requirement of repeated injection, and onset and duration of anesthesia. RESULTS: Clinical and statistical data confirmed that the addition of sodium bicarbonate in local anesthetics reduces pain and decreased the onset and increased duration of local anesthesia in the palatal site, as compared to injection of local anesthetic without sodium bicarbonate. CONCLUSION: Effect of sodium bicarbonate on reducing pain while injecting into the palatal aspect was noted in this study.