Comparative evaluation of the effectiveness of different pain-alleviating methods before local anesthetic administration in children of 6 to 12 years of age: A clinical study

Abstract

Background and aim of the study: Pediatric patients are apprehensive regarding having dental treatment mainly because of painful local anesthetic (LA) injections. Various techniques like transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), topical anesthetic agents, and vibrator device are introduced to reduce discomfort before LA administration. Therefore, the present study aimed to compare and evaluate the effectiveness of TENS, 2% lignocaine gel, eutectic mixture of lignocaine and prilocaine (EMLA), and vibrating device before LA injections in alleviating pain in pediatric patients. Materials and methods: Sixty healthy children aged 6 to 12 years who required LA injections for dental procedures were selected and divided into four groups with 15 patients in each group. Wong–Baker’s facial pain rating scale (WBFPRS) and face, legs, activity, cry, and consolability scale (FLACC) are used for pain perception which are tabulated, and statistically analyzed. Results: The test results demonstrated that the TENS group has shown the least mean WBFPRS and FLACC score, followed by vibrator devices, EMLA gel, and lignocaine gel. Conclusion: The newly introduced TENS apparatus showed encouraging results, hence can be used as a safe and reliable technique to be used in pediatric dentistry.