Stress and Anxiety in Children After the Use of Computerized Dental Anesthesia

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the transitory stress levels and the anxiety state in children submitted to conventional and computerized dental anesthesia. Twenty children (7 to 12 years) were randomly assigned to receive conventional and computerized dental anesthesia. To investigate the hypothesis that transitory stress could be lower after using computerized anesthesia compared to conventional anesthesia, cortisol levels in saliva were measured before and after each technique. Anxiety was also evaluated individually by answering the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC). Numerical data were analyzed statistically by the Mann-Whitney non-parametric test (5% significance level). Salivary cortisol levels increased in 8 (40%) patients after conventional anesthesia and in 9 (45%) patients after computerized anesthesia, with no statistically significant difference between the two types (p=0.34). In the same way, no statistically significant difference was found between the techniques (p=0.39) related to the psychological analysis based on the STAIC scores. Local anesthesia using either conventional anesthesia or a computerized delivery system produced similar level of stress/anxiety in pediatric patients, using both quantitative and qualitative analyses.

Does computerized anaesthesia reduce pain during local anaesthesia in paediatric patients for dental treatment? A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…The characteristics of the 20 selected studies are listed in Table . Twelve studies had parallel designs and 7 cross‐over designs . And one mixed design parallel and cross‐over .…”

“…The anaesthesia protocol for all studies included the use of topical anaesthetics previously local anaesthesia, except one that did not report . The topic anaesthetic drug was benzocaine in five studies, lidocaine spray in two, one study used lidocaine with prilocaine, another one used lidocaine gel, and nine did not report …”

“…As for the anaesthesia site, there was some variation between the studies. Twelve studies carried out local anaesthesia in the maxilla ; three in the mandible, and five in the maxilla and mandible …”

“…Six papers were classified as ‘low’, and fourteen articles were classified as ‘uncertain risk’ risk of bias (Figure ).…”

“…This may affect the child's behaviour and perception of pain. In the included studies, the majority of the papers compared the injections in the maxilla . It is a less challenging anaesthetic technique to perform when compared to the IANB, since there are fewer anatomical variations in the maxilla.…”