Background: Cardiovascular effects of epinephrine, especially on blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR), have been well documented. When present in dental local anesthetic solutions, epinephrine concentration ranges from 5 to 20 µg/mL. Doses less than 200 µg are recommended to be clinically safe.
Objectives: This study investigated the effects of the anesthetic solution of mepivacaine (2%) with epinephrine (10 µg/mL) in cardiovascular activity (HR and BP).
Methods: Twenty-six patients underwent outpatient surgery for the removal of 2 unilateral (group I, n = 15) or 4 (group II, n = 11) third molars in a single session, being injected 5.4 and 10.8 mL of anesthetic solution, equivalent to 54 and 108 µg of epinephrine, respectively. The cardiovascular activity was monitored by cardioscope during the experimental period of 2 hours. Heart rate and BP were measured at the intervals of 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 60, 90, and 120 minutes after anesthetic injection.
Results: After application of 2-way analysis of variance test, comparison between groups was not statistically significant for HR (P = 0.1388), systolic BP (P = 0.0228), and diastolic BP (P = 0.9846). However, patients from group II presented significantly greater sway in HR (P < 0.0001), systolic BP (P = 0.0169), and diastolic BP (P < 0.0001) in the course of 2 hours.
Conclusions: Blood pressure did not present significant alterations after a local injection of 54 or 108 µg of epinephrine during surgery to remove 2 or 4 third molars. Although without significance, HR was more elevated in the 108-µg dose of epinephrine during the removal of 4 third molars.