Objective: The objective of this study was to compare two different insertion techniques as well as two different anesthesia injection methods carried out on patients undergoing orthodontic treatment with mini-implants to reinforce skeletal anchorage.
Patients and methods: A total of 30 patients were enrolled and randomly divided into two groups, A and B. For the patients in group A the mini-implants were inserted manually after pre-drilling with a dental handpiece. In group B self-drilling mini-implants were inserted without pre-drilling. Furthermore, all patients were given a local anesthetic injected into the root tip area in the second quadrant. In the first quadrant the anesthetic was injected directly next to the insertion region. The patients were questioned concerning pain perception prior to, immediately after, and 1 day after the treatment.
Results: There were no significant differences between the two groups in the degree of discomfort described by the patients. While patients in group A considered the noise from the dental handpiece as the main discomfort factor, patients in group B reported that the pressure applied when inserting the self-drilling mini-implants was the main source of discomfort. Overall discomfort from injections immediately next to the mini-implant insertion area was lower than that resulting from the standard injection methods, where the longer lasting anesthesia was considered unpleasant.
Conclusion: Patients tolerated the various insertion procedures equally well. However, there were differences with regard to the injection technique: The patients favored an injection immediately next to the mini-implant insertion area.