Comparing pain and pain-related behavior in children with invented telescopic dental needles

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Pain control is an important part of pediatric dentistry. The purpose of this study was to evaluate pain and behavioral reaction who receive an injection with conventional and telescopic dental needles. METHODS: A total of 50 healthy children aged 4-8 years were included to this study to get a dental injection with the telescopic or the conventional dental needles. Two observers scored videos of children at the time of injection procedures based on sound, eye, motor (SEM) scale and distress reaction to evaluate the observed pain-related behavior. Children completed a face version of visual analog scale (VAS) after injection. Reliability of observer’s opinion evaluated and was established at 96%. Independent t-test and chi-square tests were used for statistical analysis. Statistical significance was defined at P < 0.0500. RESULTS: This study was conducted among 23 girls and 27 boys with mean age 5.3 ± 1.4. The pain scores according to VAS for the telescopic, and the conventional dental needles were 40.20 ± 10.50 and 56.40 ± 14.63, respectively, which was statistically significant between the two groups (P = 0.0001). The difference of SEM values for the telescopic and the conventional groups were statistically significant in totals as well as individual parameters (P = 0.0001). According to mean distress scores, patients showed less muscle tension, less verbal protest and less movement when receiving the telescopic needles (P < 0.0500). CONCLUSION: Telescopic dental needles with the ability of using topical anesthesia before needle insertion and covering needle sight out of patient’s eyes may be a good intervention to reduce pain and anxiety of children during dental injection