Comparison of perceived pain and patients' satisfaction with traditional local anesthesia and single tooth anesthesia: A randomized clinical trial

Mohammad I Al-Obaida; Mehdiya Haider; Rawan Hashim; Wafa AlGheriri; Sree Lalita Celur; Samar A Al-Saleh; Ebtissam M Al-Madi

doi:10.12998/wjcc.v7.i19.2986

Comparison of perceived pain and patients' satisfaction with traditional local anesthesia and single tooth anesthesia: A randomized clinical trial

World J Clin Cases. 2019 Oct 6;7(19):2986-2994. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v7.i19.2986.

Authors

Mohammad I Al-Obaida¹, Mehdiya Haider², Rawan Hashim², Wafa AlGheriri², Sree Lalita Celur³, Samar A Al-Saleh⁴, Ebtissam M Al-Madi⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Restorative Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, King Saud University, Riyadh 11527, Saudi Arabia.
² College of Dentistry, Princess Nourah bint AbdulRahman University, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Basic Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Princess Nourah bint AbdulRahman University, Riyadh, 13414, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Prosthetic Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, King Saud University, Riyadh 11527, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Department of Restorative Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, King Saud University, Riyadh 11527, Saudi Arabia. Arabia.ealmadi@ksu.edu.sa.

Abstract

Background: Contemporary innovations in the area of local anesthesia have attempted to provide an absolutely pain free experience for patients. Since the introduction of Computer-Controlled Local Anesthetic Delivery Systems to dentistry, many studies have compared its efficacy and safety to conventional anesthesia. However, very few studies have compared single tooth anesthesia (STA) and traditional local anesthesia.

Aim: To compare pain rating, changes in blood pressure, and heart rate during the local anesthetic injection. The secondary objectives were to measure the patients' level of satisfaction and the differences in anesthetic efficiency between the STA system and traditional local infiltration.

Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted and a total of 80 patients with dental restorative needs were enrolled for the study. The patients were evaluated for their general physical status and oral clinical findings before enrollment. Information regarding perceived pain, changes in heart rate and blood pressure, and patients' satisfaction was collected using an electronic data form and was analyzed using paired and unpaired t-tests.

Results: No significant difference was noted in perceived pain (P = 0.59) and systolic blood pressure (P = 0.09) during anesthetic injection using both traditional and STA techniques. STA patients had a significantly higher heart rate during anesthesia, although a statistically significant difference was noted among the traditional anesthesia and the STA groups even before anesthesia. During the restorative procedure, less pain was perceived by STA patients on the Wong-Baker FACES pain scale, which was statistically significant (P < 0.001). Analyses of post-procedure patient responses showed that STA patients had a significantly better treatment experience and preferred to have the same method of injection in the future (P = 0.04).

Conclusion: STA system can provide less painful and more comfortable restorative treatment procedures in comparison to the traditional infiltration technique.

Keywords: Heart beat; Local anesthesia; Pain experience; Patient satisfaction; Pulse rate; Single tooth anesthesia; Wong-Baker FACES pain scale.