Local Anesthesia in Pediatric Dentistry
Stabilization

Before placement of the syringe in the mouth, the patient’s head, hands and body should be stabilized. There are two basic positions for stabilizing the patient’s head.

A behind the patient position is assumed for injecting the contralateral quadrants to the clinician’s favored hand and the anterior regions, i.e., right-handed clinicians injecting the left side, left-handed clinicians injecting the right side.

The clinician stabilizes the patient’s head by supporting the head against the clinician’s body with the less favored hand and arm. The clinician stabilizes the jaw by resting the fingers against the mandible for support and retraction of lips and cheek.

For injections on the same side as the clinician’s favored hand, i.e., right side for right-handed clinicians, left side for left-handed clinicians, the clinician assumes a more forward position, 8 o’clock for right-handed clinicians, 4 o’clock for left-handed clinicians.

The clinician stabilizes the patient’s head and retracts the soft tissues with the fingers of the weaker hand resting on the bones of the maxilla and mandible.

To prevent unexpected movements of the child’s hands during the injection, the assistant restrains the hands by asking the child to place them on their belly button and placing her hands over them.