Topical anesthetics based on a combination of 2.5%
lidocaine and 2.5%
prilocaine are efficient in eliminating
pain from
needle stick when placed on skin and oral mucosa. This suggests their application in soft tissue
lacerations before suturing to enable
pain-free exploration and suturing of traumatic
lacerations without prior injection
needle stick. The aim of the present study was to study the healing of experimental oral
lacerations after topical
anesthetic substances were placed in the
lacerations. Thirty-six standardized incisions were made bilaterally in the lower and the upper labial mucosa of nine white New Zealand rabbits. All
wounds were intentionally contaminated with saliva to simulate
laceration wounds in
trauma situation.
EMLA cream and
Oraqix thermosetting gel were applied into 30
lacerations and six
lacerations were left untreated as control. In some
lacerations the topical
anesthetic agent was left in the
wound, while in others they were rinsed off by saline before suturing the
laceration wound. The rabbits were then killed after 3 days, 2 weeks and 4 weeks of healing and the lips were processed for histological evaluation. Similar normal histological healing patterns were seen in
wounds in which EMLA and
Oraqix were applied compared with control
lacerations at all stages of healing. No adverse tissue or
foreign body reactions were seen in any of the
lacerations. We conclude that EMLA and
Oraqix can be used in oral mucosal
lacerations prior to suturing without the risk of adverse tissue reaction.