Periodontal ligament injection: alternative solutions.

This study was undertaken to investigate whether plain lidocaine, 3% plain mepivacaine and 3% prilocaine with felypressin were suitable epinephrine-free local anesthetic solutions for use in periodontal ligament anesthesia as alternatives to lidocaine with 1:80,000 epinephrine. Two hundred and seven patients received one of the four test solutions via a periodontal ligament injection and the success rate of anesthesia was confirmed using an electric pulp stimulator. Although neither mepivacaine nor prilocaine were as effective as lidocaine with epinephrine, the success rates of these three solutions were not statistically different. A single periodontal ligament injection of any of the solutions tested resulted in a low incidence of anesthesia. The success rate of lidocaine without epinephrine was consistently poor.