For those over 12 yrs. old now ... Buffering for other than removing the sting associated with any local injection is a mute point with the advent and approval of 4% Septocaine (Articaine) .... We used to buffer for those few very hard to numb ... now Articaine does the same job.
Our totally painless technic is to start with one of the new topicals .. (Walterberry) ... For the maxillary and mandibular facial apical areas on all but the lower molars .. Inject a drop or two of (warmed) Articaine to start and let it infiltrate ... I have the patient hold light pressure on the cheek or lip over the apical area for about 30 seconds .. I think this helps the infiltration through the bone especially on the lower. .... Then add a few more drops with a little more light pressure and that is all there is to it!
Nothing new about infiltration or periodontal ligament anesthesia here except that we can now anesthetize all the mandibular teeth individually without a full block including the cuspids ... We still use the ligamaject on the mandibular molars ... mesial and distal lingual corners .... We get complete anesthesia over 99% of the time without a block with these two technics and it's onset is much faster and wears off sooner than the full block.
I have found that facial infiltration works better than the lingual infiltration some give, and is also easier and less painful to give.
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