Ask your dentist:
Do you buffer?
Dental injections are too painful, slow-acting, and unreliable.
They don't have to be.
With new innovations in 2025, buffering is now a convenient, simple-step process for dentists1.
A new standard of care.
Clinical studies have long shown that buffered injections are less painful, faster acting, and for infected teeth, twice as likely to work1.
According to a recent article in Dr. Bicuspid, a leading dental industry publication:
Septodont's BufferPro and Onpharma’s Onset EZ "both offer convenient, simple-step buffering, and it’s fair to say both are major improvements to the clunky and expensive devices of the past."
"With all significant barriers to buffered anesthetics removed, a new standard of care has arrived.1"
What is buffering?
Dental anesthetics contain acid to preserve their shelf life. The acid can be up to 25,000 times more acidic than human tissue.
"Buffering" refers to pH-balancing of the anesthetic prior to injection.
Decades of research have shown that removing the acid from local anesthetics produces faster onset, less injection pain, and increased reliability2, 3.
What do leading textbook authors say?
"It is my strong belief that buffering of dental local anesthetics should be a routine part of all dental injections."
- Dr. Stanley Malamed
"Buffering improves patient comfort, enhances time management, decreases doses, and improves safety and efficacy. Ultimately, it leads to more efficient and pleasant dental experiences.
In view of these new products, a threshold has been crossed, and in 2025, buffering should be the standard of care.
I wouldn't give an unbuffered anesthetic to my family or my patients, and no informed patient would consent to an unbuffered injection."
- Dr. Arthur DiMarco
Co-author of Local Anesthesia for Dental Professionals
Ask your dentist:
Do you buffer?
Coming soon: An expanded DoYouBuffer.com.
Questions or Comments
Questions about buffering? Are you a patient looking for a local dentist who buffers their anesthetic? Are you a dentist who currently buffers and want to share your story or be added to our database? Send us a note!
1 “Buffered anesthesia rivalry heats up in dental industry,” Dr. Bicuspid, October 16, 2025
2 2018 Meta-Analysis: Significantly Decreased Onset Time And Injection Pain; Guo Et Al From University Of Southern California School Of Dentistry Concluded: “Buffered Lidocaine Significantly Decreased Onset Time And Injection Pain (Vas) Compared With Non-Buffered Lidocaine In Inferior Alveolar Nerve Block.”; 2017 Clinical Study: Reduces The Pain On Injection; Phero Et Al From University Of North Carolina School Of Dentistry Concluded: “Buffered Lidocaine Reduces The Pain On Injection With A Maxillary Field Block And Results In Similar Lengths Of Pulpal Anesthesia As Non-Buffered 2% Lidocaine.” 2017 Clinical Study: Lower Pain On Injections. Warren Et Al From University Of North Carolina School Of Dentistry Concluded: “After Mandibular Nerve Block, Buffered 1% Lidocaine Can Produce Similar Duration Of Pulpal Anesthesia As Non-Buffered 2% Lidocaine And Lower Pain On Injections.”; 2019 Meta-Analysis: 2.29 Times More Reliable In Inflamed Teeth; Kattan Et Al From University Of Pennsylvania School Of Dentistry Concluded: “Buffered Local Anesthetics Have 2.29 Times Greater Likelihood Of Achieving Successful Anesthesia [In Pulpally Involved Teeth].”
3 “Effectiveness of Buffered and Non-Buffered Local Anesthetic in Inferior Alveolar Nerve Block: A Randomised Study”, M Bala, A.O. Taiwo, A.A. Ibikunle, H.O. Olasoji, A.O. Sulaiman, B.C. Chukwuma, R.O. Braimah, B.O. Ileogedengbe, Published in the British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, April 21, 2023