Ophthalmic accidents during local-regional anesthesia in dentistry: clinical aspects, anatomic routes

Ophthalmic complications of intra-oral loco-regional anesthesia are rare. Three personal cases have incited the authors to review the world literature on this topic and emphasize a few epidemiological data as well as the broad outline of the characteristic clinical picture. Various etio-pathogenic hypotheses are discussed: arterial, venous or sympathetic routes. It seems that, with our current knowledge, no univocal explanation is perfectly satisfactory.