Local Anaesthesia for Dental and Maxillofacial Surgery in Equines

Introduction
The aim is to present the most commonly used nerve blocks and some regional appli- cations of local anaesthetics to facilitate dental and maxillofacial surgical procedures in standing sedated horses1.

1: infraorbital nerve block within the pterygopalatine fossa: extraperiorbital fat body insertion (eFbi) technique2

Anesthetised structures
This block provides anaesthesia of all equilateral maxillary cheek teeth, the maxilla including the lining of the maxillary sinuses, the mucous membranes of the nose, the equilateral canine tooth and the incisors, muzzle and nose on the injected side.

Preparation
A 3 x 3 cm rectangular skin area ventral of the temporal canthus of the eye and ventral of the zygomatic process is clipped and aseptic preparation is performed. a 3.5 inch 19 gauge (1.1 x 90 mm) spinal needle, sterile gloves and 10 – 20 ml of local anaesthetic are prepared. Sterile injection technique is mandatory.

Injection technique
One to 2 ml of local anaesthetic is infiltrated subcutaneously to desensitize the injection site. the skin is punctured at a point 1 cm ventral to the zygomatic process perpendicular to the temporal canthus of the eye3. the spinal needle is then inserted horizontally and perpendicular to the skin surface. the tip is advanced to 45-50 mm depth. Subsequently the local anaesthetic is slowly injected. [...]