I read the August JADA article by Dr. Al Reader and colleagues, "The Anesthetic Efficacy of Articaine in Buccal Infiltration of Mandibular Posterior Teeth" (
JADA 2007; 138[8]:1104–12
), and found it interesting. It makes a significant point that one carpule of 4 percent articaine, 1:100,000 epinephrine provides more successful pulpal anesthesia than one carpule of 2 percent lidocaine, 1:100,000 epinephrine, and in less time.
However, this does not mean that articaine is superior to lidocaine as an anesthetic. To effectively test the efficacy of each medication, one would have to administer the same quantity and concentration of anesthetic. It may just be that each carpule of articaine is twice the dose of the lidocaine, but no more effective.
It would be interesting to see a test comparing various types of anesthetics at the same concentration and with varying quantities. This would provide extremely useful information.
