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Introduction:For achieving mandibular anaesthesia, various methods have been described. Anaesthesia by traditional inferior alveolar nerve block (IANB) is not always predictable. Thus other techniques like Gow-Gates, Vazirani-Akinosi have been advocated.

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of IANB and Gow-Gates technique for mandibular anaesthesia.

Methodology: A non-randomised trial was conducted after institutional ethical approval, from 2022 July to 2023 January, in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department, Kathmandu Medical College among 134 patients requiring extraction. The participants recruited by convenience sampling were divided in two groups with 67 in each. Informed consent was taken. One group received conventional IANB and another received Gow-Gates technique. Success rate, onset time, aspiration, and complications in between two techniques were compared. Data were analysed in SPSS v.24. Chi-square test was performed for proportional difference between categorical variables and Mann-Whitney U test for comparing median difference in onset time between two groups.

Result: Anaesthetic success rate in IANB group was seen among 59 (88.1%) patients and among 56 (83.6%) in Gow-Gates group but the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.457). Gow-Gates had significantly higher median onset time than IANB (p <0.001). Positive aspiration was seen among six (9.0%) in IANB and only in one (1.5%) in Gow-Gates. One patient with IANB showed transient facial nerve palsy as complication.

Conclusion:Both Gow-Gates and the IANB techniques in this study were successful in achieving mandibular anaesthesia, with no significant differences in overall success rates. Further studies with larger sample size and diverse population is recommended.

Anaesthesia; effectiveness; Gow-Gates; inferior alveolar nerve block; mandibular nerve block.