A randomized clinical trial to compare pain levels during three types of oral anesthetic injections and the effect of Dentalvibe® on injection pain in children

Background Pain control is of great importance particularly in pediatric dentistry. The Dentalvibe® is a device that delivers vibration to the injection site in order to reduce intraoral injections’ pain. Aims The purpose of this study was to compare pain levels caused by three types of anesthesia injections and the effect of the Dentalvibe® on reducing the injection pain. Design The study included 40 children, and each one received six injections. The injections were divided randomly into two methods: experimental (DV): buccal and palatal infiltration on the maxilla and inferior alveolar nerve block (IANB) with vibration and traditional (TR): receiving the same previous injections without vibration. Moreover, pain was assessed using the FLACC® and Wong‐Baker faces® pain scales. Then after, patients were asked about their favorite method. Results No statistically significant differences were observed regardless of the injection site in subjective and objective evaluation in the (TR) method. Although the pain scores in (DV) method were less than the traditional in most injections, the differences were not statistically significant. Conclusions Children experienced similar levels of pain in all sites of injection using the traditional method. The Dentalvibe® did not decrease discomfort and was not accepted more by children.