J Oral Maxillofac Surg 61:1467-1470, 2003 The Effects of Articaine Hydrochloride on Wound Healing: An Experimental Study Necdet Dog ˘an, DDS,* Cahit U ¨ c ¸ok, DDS,† Cem Korkmaz, MD,‡ O ¨ zlem U ¨ c ¸ok, DDS,§ and Hakan Alpay Karasu, DDS Purpose: The aim of the study was to examine the effect of articaine hydrochloride (AH) on the healing of surgical wounds and to compare healing with that of lidocaine. Materials and Methods: Forty rats were used in this study. The rats were randomly separated into 4 groups. Three groups were given 2% lidocaine, 4% AH, or injectable saline, and the fourth was a control group. Skin specimens underwent the breaking strength test (BST) and histologic examination at 1 week after the surgical procedure. The skin specimens of the rats were subjected to a pulling force of 10 mm/min across the incision line. The strength value at the moment of breaking in the tissue was expressed in Newtons. Histologic examination was performed as well, and wound healing was graded. Results: Both the histologic grade and BST values in the lidocaine and AH groups were significantly lower than those of the control and saline groups (P  .01). Similarly, the histologic and BST values of the AH and lidocaine groups were statistically significant (P  .05, P  .001). Some necrotic regions were observed at the incision region in 2 samples from the AH group. Conclusion: The results of the study showed that AH is as safe a local anesthetic agent as lidocaine from the standpoint of wound response. © 2003 American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons J Oral Maxillofac Surg 61:1467-1470, 2003 The use of local anesthetics is one of the most widely used processes in the practice of dentistry. Various local anesthetic agents are prepared for this purpose. Practices that started with the discovery of cocaine in 1884 continued and became more widespread with the discoveries of procaine in 1904 and lidocaine in 1948. 1 Thus, the painless treatment of patients was realized and constituted one of the most important practices of dentistry. Local anesthetics have various effects on the healing of surgical wounds. However, studies aiming at finding safer and more effective local anesthetic agents continue. Articaine hydrochloride (AH), a local anesthetic of the amide group, was synthesized and offered for clinical use in 1976 in Germany. The use of AH was initially limited to Euro- pean countries; however, it was later used in Canada and, after the approval of the Food and Drug Admin- istration, AH began to be used in the United States in April 2000. 2 Local anesthetics are known to have modest dose- related effects on wound healing. This experimental study was prepared to examine the effect of AH on the healing of surgical wounds compared with the effect of lidocaine. Materials and Methods Forty rats (F344) weighing between 230 and 280 g were used in this study. The study was performed in accordance with the protocol prepared with the ap- proval of the Committee for Ethical Experiments on Animals. The rats were kept 7 days before the study in an environment that had good air circulation and heat control, and the animals had free access to water and food. The rats were randomly separated into 4 groups for this experiment. Rats that would receive 2% lido- caine (plus 1:100,000 epinephrine) constituted group 1, those that would receive 4% AH (plus 1:100,000 epinephrine) constituted group 2, those that would receive a saline solution application were group 3, *Assistant Professor, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Sur- gery, Gu ¨lhane Military Medical Academy, Ankara, Turkey. †Associate Professor, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Sur- gery, Dental Faculty, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey. ‡Chief Resident, Department of Histology, Gu ¨lhane Military Medical Academy, Ankara, Turkey. §Assistant Professor, Department of Oral Diagnosis and Radiol- ogy, Gu ¨lhane Military Medical Academy, Ankara, Turkey. Chief Resident, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Dental Faculty, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey. Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr C. U ¨ c ¸ok: Ankara U ¨ niversitesi Dis ¸ Hekimlig ˘i Faku ¨ltesi, Bes ¸evler, Ankara, Tur- key; e-mail: cucok@dentistry.ankara.edu.tr © 2003 American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons 0278-2391/03/6112-0014$30.00/0 doi:10.1016/j.joms.2003.05.002 1467