Pain Perception During Local Anesthesia Administration in Pediatric Dental Patients and The Impact of Pre-Cooling The Injection Site: An in-vivo Study

Abstract

Aim: Examining how pre-cooling affects children’s experience of pain during local anesthetic administration is the primary goal of this study. Material and Methods: This study was conducted in vivo and involved 60 child patients who required local anesthetic in order to undergo dental procedures. Patients were divided into two groups based on a random chance: Group I was the control group, which did not receive any pre-cooling. Group II was the pre-cooling group, which allowed the injection site to be chilled with an ice pack for one minute prior to the administration of anesthesia. The Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale was used to evaluate the participants’ level of pain perception immediately following the administration of the anesthetic injection. Results: The group that received pre-cooling showed a reduction in pain levels that was statistically significant when compared to the group that received control (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Pediatric dental patients may decrease local anesthesia pain by pre-cooling the injection site. This technique can be simply used in dental practices to improve patient experience, especially for children with dental anxiety or needle phobia.

Keywords

• local anesthesia
• pain management
• pediatric dentistry
• pre-cooling