Prospective Clinical Study on the Effectiveness of Gel Topical Anesthesic in Second-Stage Surgeries of Dental Implants

Purpose: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of gel topical anaesthesia in second surgeries of dental implants to find the cover screw which has been submerged; to check if there are significant differences in the perception of pain between the different treated areas of the oral cavity, as well as to study the thickness and the type of oral mucosa in which the gel topical anaesthesia is effective.

Material and Methods: 13 partially and completely edentulous patients with 30 implants in total were included in the study. Those submerged dental implants whose cover screw was not submerged in a depth higher than 2-4 mm were selected. In the event of the gel topical anaesthesia not being effective, reinforcement with conventional infiltrative anaesthesia was made. Pain was measured with Visual Analogue Scales (VAS), and the gum thickness with periodontal probe.

Results: The 66.67% of the sample needed reinforcement through conventional anaesthetic infiltration. No statistically significant differences were found in the comparison of pain with different gum thickness, implant localization in the oral cavity, although a higher feeling of pain was actually observed in those patients who were firstly subjected to a second-stage surgery (p<0,05).

Conclusions: The use of gel topical anaesthesia cannot be considered as the sole treatment to eliminate the feeling of pain, but as a coadjuvant to infiltrative anaesthesia. No significant differences have been found between the different treated areas of the oral cavity, nor in the thickness or type of oral mucosa.