Efficacy of external cold and a vibrating device in reducing pain and anxiety during local anaesthesia

Abstract

Background and Aim: To evaluate and compare the efficacy of external cold and a vibrating device in reducing the pain and anxiety amidst children receiving maxillary infiltration anaesthesia over conventional methods. Method: A sum of thirty subjects aged between 5 and 10 years who had undergone dental procedures requiring maxillary infiltration were enrolled in the current split-mouth randomised control study. The control intervention constitutes infiltration of 1.8 mL of 2% lignocaine in addition to 1:100,000 adrenaline (Lox, Neon Laboratories Mumbai, India) whereas, the experimental group used external cold and a vibrating device (Buzzy®, MMJ Labs, Atlanta, GA, USA) in annexation to the control protocol. Simultaneous to LA administration, pulse rate was employed as an objective measure and the subjective measure was recorded using RMS Pictorial Scale (RMS-PS) for the child's discomfort. To document the child's pain as anticipated by the dentist the revised face, limbs, arms, cry and consolability (FLACC-R) scale was employed. Result: Lower pain sensation and anxiety was recorded in the experimental group using Buzzy when compared to control. Conclusion: External cold in adjacent with vibrations might be efficient in lowering pain as well as anxiety in children experiencing infiltration dental anaesthesia though further research work is requisite with a larger sample size.

Keywords

• buzzy
• gate control theory
• local anaesthesia
• pain