Effectiveness of biofeedback relaxation and audio-visual distraction on dental anxiety among 7- to 12-year-old children while administering local anaesthesia: A randomized clinical trial.

Background: Local anaesthesia (LA) administration provokes dental anxiety in children. BrightHearts is a biofeedback relaxation application designed to reduce anxiety in children during painful procedural interventions.

Aim: To compare the effectiveness of biofeedback relaxation (BR) and audio-visual (AV) distraction on dental anxiety among 7- to 12-year-old children while administering LA.

Design: A total of 70 children requiring dental treatment under LA for three visits were recruited for this single-blinded randomized control trial. They were randomly divided into two equal groups. Group A received BR and Group B received AV distraction during LA delivery in the first two visits, and both groups did not receive any intervention during LA in third visit. Outcomes were measured using heart rate and a cartoon-based anxiety measuring scale (Chotta Bheem-Chutki (CBC) scale).

Results: AV group had statistically significant higher mean heart rates than BR group (P < .001) during needle penetration and post-intervention, respectively. CBC scale showed no statistical differences between the groups.

Conclusion: Both the interventions are effective in reducing dental anxiety during LA administration. Based on objective measures, BR is found to be better than AV distraction. Subjective scores, however, show no differences between the two.