Effectiveness of new distraction technique on pain associated with injection of local anesthesia for children.

Purpose: Distraction is one of the most commonly used techniques for control of pain associated with injection procedures. This study's purpose was to evaluate the effect of a distraction technique using audiovisual (A/V) glasses on pain perception during administration of local anesthesia for children.

Methods: Forty-eight healthy, cooperative 5- to 7-year-olds were selected on the basis of existence of bilateral carious primary mandibular molars, which necessitated an inferior alveolar nerve block anesthesia before treatment. Treatment was done on 2 visits 1 week apart. Children had been randomly assigned to receive the A/V glasses at one visit and no distraction during the other visit. Two different pain assessment scales were used: the pain faces scale (PFS) and the face, legs, activity, cry, and consolability scale (FLACC) scale. Kappa statistics were calculated for the reliability of the observer when using the FLACC scale. A comparison between the 2 study techniques was done using the Wilcoxon signed ranks test.

Results: Kappa values ranged from 0.89 to 1.00. The pain scores in both scales were significantly lower when the A/V glasses were used.

Conclusion: Distraction induced by audiovisual glasses was an effective way to reduce the pain associated with injection of local anesthesia.