A study comparing the efficacy of articaine and lidocaine reports a relative risk (RR) of 3.1 with a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 2.1–4.7 and a p-value <0.001. Based on this data, what can be concluded about the efficacy of these anesthetics?

The study shows a relative risk (RR) of 3.1, meaning patients receiving articaine were approximately 3 times more likely to achieve successful anesthesia compared to lidocaine. The 95% confidence interval (CI) of 2.1–4.7 contains the point estimate of 3.1 and does not cross 1.0, confirming the result is statistically significant. The p-value <0.001 further supports this finding, indicating a very low probability that the observed effect is due to chance. Therefore, the study strongly suggests that articaine is more effective than lidocaine.