Effectiveness of cryotherapy, 30% sucrose solution, and a combination therapy for reduction of pain perception during local anesthesia in children: A split mouth study

Background: Dental fear, anxiety, and needle phobia in children make LA administration a challenging task in pediatric dental practice. Thus, techniques that render pain free dental anaesthesia have become eminent. Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of cryotherapy, 30% sucrose solution and a combination therapy for reduction of pain perception during local anesthesia in children. Methodology: 90 children aged 7–11 years requiring bilateral IANB were randomly allocated to three study groups of 30 each. Each participant received IANB under topical LA on first appointment on one side (as control) and in second appointment under cryotherapy or 30% sucrose solution or combination of two based on study group allocated. The pain perception was recorded subjectively by WBFACES, objectively by SEM pain scale along with vital parameters such as SpO2 and pulse rate (PR). Statistical test used were Kruskal–Wallis and analysis of variance. Results: The WBFACES and SEM scores, PR, and SpO2 of Group 4 (popsicle) showed a statistically significant difference ( P < 0.05) when compared to group 1 (topical anesthesia), group 2 (ice-cubes), and group 3 (30% sucrose solution). On intergroup comparison, group 4 showed least pain perception followed by group 3 and group 2 using WBS. However, on SEM it was group 4 followed by group 2 and group 3 which were statistically significant. Conclusion: Within the limitations of the present study, it can be concluded that pain management, using cryotherapy and sweet solution can be a safe, effective successful and economical alternative to the conventional topical anesthetic agents in minimizing pain in pediatric patients.