Akinosi (tuberosity) technique: a verity but under-utilised mandibular nerve block technique.

BACKGROUND: Profound local anaesthesia is a desired clinicalcondition in surgical treatment of lesions in the oral cavity. This is because patients' cooperation is better assured with a pain-free field of operation. In dentistry this is usually achieved by either infiltration or block anaesthesia. The inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) block is the main block anaesthesia employed in dentistry, particularly for mandibular procedures. Different techniques of achieving this block anaesthesia have been described. The two commonly used of these techniques are standard technique (ST) and Akinosi technique (AT). The objectives of this study were to determine the more commonly used IAN block technique and the success rate in a self-referral dental clinic.

PATIENTS AND METHOD: This was a retrospective study that included patients treated between January, 1993 and December, 1995. Records of the patient treated within this period were examined to determine which of the two anaesthetic nerve block techniques was more frequently used in achieving deep analgesia for their mandibular procedures.

RESULTS: Of the 480 patients that were treated with block anaesthesia, 392 (81.7%) were treated with standaard technique while 88 (18.3%) were treat with Akinosi technique.

CONCLUSION: Dental surgeons in the clinic utilised standard nerve block technique more frequently than the Akinosi technique in their mandibular procedures inspire of the reported higher merits of Akinosi techniques.