Eye Movement Distraction: A New Distraction Technique for Management of Dental Anxiety during Intraoral Local Anesthesia Administration in Children

Abstract

Background: To evaluate the efficacy of eye movement distraction (EMD) in reducing anxiety during intraoral local anesthetic administration in needle-phobic children. Materials and methods: A total of 228 children aged 8–13 years were divided into two groups: group I (EMD) and group II (control), and subjective feelings of each child were recorded with a faces pain scale-revised (FPS-R) score. Both the groups (I and II) were compared using the Chi-square test. Results: Children in the EMD group showed low FPS-R scores, which is statistically significant when compared to the control group (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: Eye movement distraction can be used as an effective distraction modality to reduce anxiety during local anesthesia administration in needle-phobic children.