Rate and Differences of Blood Aspiration during IANB in Children

"Objectives:" This study conducted to determine the possible differences in blood aspiration during the inferior alveolar nerve block (IANB) between different ages, genders, and injection sides.

"Methods:" 434 IANB were performed in 2-18 year-old patients by the principal author. Blood aspiration was accepted only if a blood jet rose forcefully along the cartridge on aspiration. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the relationship of age, gender, and injection side with incidence of positive blood aspiration with alpha value set at 0.05.

"Results:" Blood aspiration was observed in 12.9% of cases.No significant differences (P<.05) were observed on contrasting the incidence of positive blood aspiration with the age. However, significant differences were seen on correlating aspiration to the gender and injection side.

"Conclusion:" The high incidence of intravascular injection during IANB that we found proves aspiration is necessary regardless of the age of the patient.