Evaluation of Anaesthetic Efficacy of Ropivacaine for the Removal of Impacted 3rd Molars- A Randomised Control Study

This study involved 20 healthy patients (ASA 1) with bilaterally impacted mandibular third molar were randomly selected of both Sexes between age group of 20-40 years. Purpose: This study was done to evaluate the efficacy of Ropivacaine in comparison with Lignocaine for mandibular anaesthesia for bilaterally impacted mandibular third molars in aspect of onset, duration of anaesthesia, analgesia and postoperative requirement of analgesics. Method: Patients received 2ml of 2% Lignocaine with adrenaline on one side and 2ml of 0.75 % plain ropivacaine on the other side at two different appointments. Pain experiences were measured by Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Verbal Rating Scale (VRS). Results: In ropivacaine group, the means of onset of anesthesia, duration of anaesthesia, duration of post-operative analgesia and requirement of post-operative analgesics were 5.8±2.33 min, 533.3±142.2 min, 539.6±114.7 min and 4.2±0.8 no’s respectively and there was a significant difference between these group (<0.001). Conclusion: The efficacy of plain ropivacaine 0.75% is superior to 2% lignocaine with adrenaline 1:1,00,000 in terms of duration of anaesthesia and analgesia, intraoperative and post-operative pain control but the onset of action of plain ropivacaine is slightly higher. We conclude that Plain Ropivacaine 0.75% can be used as an alternative to lignocaine in third molar surgeries and other minor surgical procedures which necessitates longer duration of anaesthesia and analgesia in oral and maxillofacial region.