CASE REPORTS   

Minerva Stomatologica 2013 November-December;62(11-12):455-63

Copyright © 2013 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English, Italian

Broken anesthetic needle in the pterygomandibular space. Four case reports

Catelani C. ¹, Valente A. ², Rossi A. ¹, Bertolai R. ¹ ✉

¹ SOD Clinic of Maxillary Facial Surgery University of Florence, Florence, Italy; ² Private Pratictioner, Florence, Italy

Needle breakage in the oral cavity during local anesthesia is a rare but possible complication. In the majority of cases this happens in the pterygomandibular space during an inferior alveolar nerve block and the causes are multifactorial. The treatment recommended is localization and removal of the extraneous body, as soon as possible, in a surgical setting so as to prevent possible migration of the metal fragment with consequent possible lesions to the surrounding anatomical structures. We present four case studies that have occurred since 2011.