A comparative evaluation of pain perception following topical application of benzocaine gel, clove-papaya based anesthetic gel and precooling of the injection site before intraoral injections in children.

Background And Aim Of The Study: The topical anesthetic property of clove remains unexplored even though it has been widely used in dentistry since ages. Hence, the aim of the study was to compare the topical anesthetic efficiency of precooling with ice, clove-papaya based topical gel and benzocaine gel in pediatric patients.

Methodology: Sixty healthy children aged 9-10 years who required local anesthetic injections for dental procedures were selected and divided into three groups with 20 patients each.