An experimental nasal spray can provide maxillary dental anesthesia equivalent to a lidocaine injection, new studies show, according to Medscape Today.

The phase 2 trial of the spray in 45 adults was published online May 20 and in a July clinical supplement to the Journal of Dental Research.

While that study was awaiting publication, investigators also completed equally successful phase 3 trials, and the drug is likely to receive US Food and Drug Administration approval and be released next year, said first author Sebastian Ciancio, DDS, chair of periodontics and endodontics at the University at Buffalo in New York.

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