Evaluation of the success of the modified Vazirani-Akinosi technique in comparison to the standard Vazirani-Akinosi technique: A randomized clinical trial

Introduction/Objective. The correct choice of local anesthesia should imply choosing the simplest technique, with maximum anesthesia and minimal discomfort for the patient. The objectives of this research were to determine the efficacy of the modified Vazirani–Akinosi technique (mVAt) in comparison to the standard one (VAt) and to compare the techniques regarding clinically relevant parameters. Methods. The research was conducted at the Clinic for Oral Surgery, School of Dental Medicine, University of Belgrade. A prospective, randomized, single-blinded clinical trial included 60 patients scheduled for surgical extraction of mandibular third molars. The first group of patients was anesthetized using mVAt, while the second group received anesthesia using VAt. Pain during injection, onset time, duration of anesthesia, and width of the anesthetized area were the evaluated parameters. Results. Out of 60 performed injections, 42 were successful, which proved to be statistically significant in comparison to 18 unsuccessful injections (p = 0.047). The failure rate of the buccal nerve (BN) anesthesia was statistically significantly lower in the mVAt group (p = 0.030). There was no statistically significant difference among the groups considering pain (p = 0.114), onset time (p = 0.370), and duration of anesthesia (p = 0.628). Conclusion. mVAt proved to be more successful regarding BN anesthesia. Considering other examined clinical parameters, both techniques showed similar performance.