Conduction anesthesia is a local form of anesthesia in which certain nerves or nerve branches are anesthetized during an operation. In the case of dentistry, the pain in larger intraoral areas is eliminated. Conduction anaesthesia is possible in both the upper and lower jaw.
Reasons for a block anaesthesia
With block anaesthesia, a larger area is often anaesthetised. This can be desired especially for larger operations. For example, it may be possible for the dentist to treat several teeth or gum areas in the course of one treatment.
In order to ensure that the patient is as pain-free as possible, a block anaesthesia is usually chosen. It is possible to anaesthetize larger areas of the gums or palate and several teeth at the same time. Another decisive point for the choice of a block anaesthesia is the bone structure in the lower jaw.
Due to the very compact (i.e. dense) bone structure in the lower jaw, a so-called infiltration anesthesia, which is otherwise the method of choice, cannot achieve the desired anesthesia depth. The local anesthetic therefore cannot achieve the desired effect, and the patient may have a painful, more unpleasant treatment. In summary, the following examples of the choice of a block anaesthesia can be given:
- Major surgery in the upper anterior region (infraorbital nerve),
- The removal of a mucosal graft from the palate (N. palatinus major),
- Treatments in the lower jaw (N. alveolaris inferior),
- Removal of wisdom teeth in the lower jaw
Procedure
With a conduction anaesthesia in the upper jaw, the procedure hardly differs from that of an infiltration anaesthesia. The exact injection sites have to be considered, which will not be discussed in detail here. It is worth mentioning that there are also situations when the anaesthesia is performed in the infraorbital foramen in the upper jaw where the injection is placed extraorally (outside the mouth).
This is especially the case if the patient suffers from a so-called lockjaw due to certain injuries and is unable to open the mouth. The procedure of a conduction anesthesia in the lower jaw will be discussed in more detail at this point. The difficulty for the dentist is that the mandibular foramen is sometimes difficult to localize.
The dentist has to deal with the individual anatomical conditions in order to guarantee a sufficient anaesthesia. The following articles may also be of interest to you: Local anesthesia at the dentist, local anesthesia
- In this case the doctor should guide the cannula about 1cm above the rows of teeth, from the premolar region (the two teeth after the canine) of the opposite side, towards the cheek.
- The puncture point lies laterally of the so-called pterygomandibular plica approximately in the middle between the upper and lower teeth.
- The dentist must advance the cannula to bone contact and should check whether it has hit a blood vessel before applying the anesthetic. If this is the case, a new puncture must be made to avoid the formation of hematomas by hitting the blood vessel.
