Undergraduate Performance in Dental Anesthesia

Abstract

Mandibular block is frequent in the dental practice for performing painless procedures, since it anesthetizes one quadrant with a single injection. The class of anesthesia at School of Dentistry of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, (UNAM,) gives students the necessary skills and clinical teachings to successful performance in mandibular anesthesia. Purpose: To determine the undergraduate performance in regional mandibular anesthesia, in patients under extraction order of erupted permanent tooth. Material and methods: An observational study was performed between March 2007 and February 2008 in five clinics of the School of Dentistry UNAM, including 131 fifth year students, who applied the regional mandibular technique and who agreed to participate in the study. Student, patient, and procedure variables, they were recorded; input and processed in SPSS 15.0. Results: Female students predominated (75%), mean age was 23.4±1.4 years, GPA 7.9±3.9. 63% of the patients were female, with average grade of 46.9±17.4. Teeth most frequently extracted were posterior (87%). 50% of the mandibular blocks were successful. Conclusions: a) Successful performance in mandibular block was 50% b) It is necessary to research the application characteristics of the failed mandibular anesthesia to improve the performance of undergraduate students.