Comparison of Three Different Techniques to Allay Anxiety before Local Anesthesia Injection in Pediatric Population

Abstract

Introduction: The fear of dentists is one of the major concerns why pediatric patients avoid dentists and thereby compromising their oral hygiene status. Injection of local anesthesia is considered to be the most dreaded procedures and dentists all over the world have adopted different techniques to allay the fear, pain and anxiety of the patients. Material and Methods: 54 children aged between 6-13 years were included in the study. A simple randomization was done and the children were divided into three groups. Application of topical anesthesia gel at the site of administration of local anesthesia, pre-cooling the anesthetic site with ice prior to the administration of local anesthesia, vibratory stimulus adjacent to the site of administration of local anesthesia using a powered toothbrush were the groups from 1-3 respectively. The pain perception during the administration of infiltration anesthesia was assessed using Wong-Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale. The statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software. Results: The greatest pain reduction was observed in the vibrations group with mean pain score 1.33 followed by pre cooling group with mean pain score 2.44 then topical anesthesia gel with mean score of 4.67. Mann-Whitney test showed that vibrations was statistical significant when compared with topical anesthesia and pre cooling before local anesthesia (P<0.003). Conclusions: Use of vibrations using powered tooth brush adjacent to the site of injection during Local Anesthesia (LA) is an easy, reliable and cost effective technique and was found to reduce discomfort and facilitate the management of pediatric patients.