Analgesic effect of intrapocket anesthesia gel during scaling and root planing: A randomized crossover study

In this study, a surface anesthetic gel injected into periodontal pockets (gel anesthesia) and infiltration anesthesia were compared to assess their analgesic effects and periodontal tissue improvements during scaling and root planing (SRP).Twenty-seven patients (16 males, aged 37-77 years) with four or more periodontal pockets (5-9 mm) were randomly divided into two groups. In the first session, group A received gel anesthesia on one tooth and infiltration anesthesia on another tooth, followed by infiltration and gel anesthesia in the second session, along with SRP. Group B received the reverse order of anesthesia described for Group A. After SRP, patients were asked to report the pain with a visual analogue scale and verbal rating scale, and preference of anesthesia and the reasons. The periodontal tissues were re-evaluated one month after the average SRP.No significant differences were observed in subject unit attributes or tooth unit clinical data between groups A and B. Although all pain indices were significantly higher for gel anesthesia than for infiltration anesthesia (p