J Dent Anesth Pain Med.  2019 Oct;19(5):261-270. 10.17245/jdapm.2019.19.5.261.

Resistance to local anesthesia in people with the Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes presenting for dental surgery

• Schubart J
• Schaefer E
• Janicki P
• Adhikary S
• Schilling
• Hakim AJ
• Bascom R
• Francomano CA
• Raj SR

• KMID: 2461242
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.17245/jdapm.2019.19.5.261

Abstract

BACKGROUND
People with the Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes (EDS), a group of heritable disorders of connective tissue, often report experiencing dental procedure pain despite local anesthetic (LA) use. Clinicians have been uncertain how to interpret this apparent LA resistance, as comparison of EDS and non-EDS patient experience is limited to anecdotal evidence and small case series. The primary goal of this hypothesis-generating study was to investigate the recalled adequacy of pain prevention with LA administered during dental procedures in a large cohort of people with and without EDS. A secondary exploratory aim asked people with EDS to recall comparative LA experiences.
METHODS
We administered an online survey through various social media platforms to people with EDS and their friends without EDS, asking about past dental procedures, LA exposures, and the adequacy of procedure pain prevention. Among EDS respondents who both received LA and recalled the specific LA used, we compared agent-specific pain prevention for lidocaine, procaine, bupivacaine, mepivacaine, and articaine.
RESULTS
Among the 980 EDS respondents who had undergone a dental procedure LA, 88% (n = 860) recalled inadequate pain prevention. Among 249 non EDS respondents only 33% (n = 83) recalled inadequate pain prevention (P < 0.001 compared to EDS respondents). The agent with the highest EDS-respondent reported success rate was articaine (30%), followed by bupivacaine (25%), and mepivacaine (22%).
CONCLUSIONS
EDS survey respondents reported nearly three times the rate of LA non-response compared to non-EDS respondents, suggesting that LAs were less effective in preventing their pain associated with routine office dental procedures.

Keyword

Dental Care; Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome; Local Anesthetics

MeSH Terms

Anesthesia, Local*
Anesthetics, Local
Bupivacaine
Carticaine
Cohort Studies
Connective Tissue
Dental Care
Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome
Friends
Humans
Lidocaine
Mepivacaine
Procaine
Social Media
Surveys and Questionnaires
Anesthetics, Local
Bupivacaine
Carticaine
Lidocaine
Mepivacaine
Procaine

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