Effectiveness of pre-injection use of cryoanesthesia as compared to topical anesthetic gel in reducing pain perception during palatal injections: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Palatal injections are often painful. We aimed to compare topical ice and 20% benzocaine gel for pre-injection anesthesia before greater palatine nerve block (GPNB) injections.

Methods: A randomized split-mouth clinical trial was conducted among patients aged 15-60-years needing bilateral GPNB injections. A total of 120 palatal sites from 60 patients were randomly allocated to Group A (topical ice) or Group B (20% benzocaine gel). Pain was evaluated using sound, eye, motor (SEM), and the visual analog scale (VAS) in both groups. Inferential analysis was performed using the Mann-Whitney U test.

Results: The mean age of the participants was 20.5 ± 3.9 years. The median VAS score for group A was 11 (Q1 - Q3: 5.25 - 21.75), which was slightly higher than the 10 (Q1 - Q3: 4.0 - 26.75) reported in group B. However, the difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.955). The median SEM score for group A and group B was 3.5 (Q1 - Q3: 3.0 - 4.0) and 4.0 (Q1 - Q3: 3.0 - 4.0), respectively, which was statistically insignificant (P = 0.869).

Conclusion: Using ice as a form of topical anesthetic for achieving pre-injection anesthesia before GPNB was as effective as 20% benzocaine gel.