Complications of inferior alveolar nerve block anesthesia

  The inferior alveolar nerve is the largest branch of the trigeminal nerve, and it is important to pay attention to the amount of medication used and the complications of anesthesia when performing inferior alveolar nerve block anesthesia. During anesthesia, patients usually experience ipsilateral lower lip and ipsilateral lower jaw teeth numbness.  The inferior alveolar nerve is thick and has many branches, so if too little medication is injected, it may not be adequately anesthetized; pay attention to the amount of medication used during inferior alveolar nerve block anesthesia. Common complications include temporary facial palsy, temporary dentition, temporary diplopia, inferior alveolar nerve injury, and needle breakage.  Temporary facial palsy is caused by the injection point being posteriorly oriented and the needle crossing the sigmoid notch of the mandible and injecting into the parotid gland, resulting in anesthesia of the facial nerve; usually the anesthetic will recover on its own after the effect of the anesthetic wears off, so do not be too nervous. Temporary dentition is caused by the injection of anesthesia into the pterygoid muscle or occlusal muscle, resulting in the loss of muscle contraction and diastolic function; most of them recover on their own after 2-3 hours. Temporary diplopia is due to anesthetic injection into the inferior alveolar artery and drug into the orbit, causing paralysis of the ocular muscles and optic nerve, which can recover on its own. Inferior alveolar nerve damage is mainly caused by the injection needle into the nerve, which can be treated with nutritional drugs. The most troublesome is the fracture of the injection needle. The location and length of the fractured needle need to be determined, and the need for surgical incision to remove it will be determined on a case-by-case basis.