Pain on injection of dental local anaesthesia

Dickson, M., Gray, G., Martin, I. and Murray, C.A. (2003) Pain on injection of dental local anaesthesia. Continuing Professional Development Dentistry, 4(3), 81 -86.

Abstract

In previous work on the delivery of dental local anaesthesia there is an absence of basic documentation about the level of pain experienced by patients, and about how this is affected by common clinical variables. The aim of this study was to establish a base of data from which to draw initial inferences, and to allow comparison by future work. The pain experience of 141 adult subjects during intraoral injection of local anaesthetic was collected by a ten point visual analogue scale. Age group, gender, symptoms, pre- operative anxiety, injection location, operator experience and success of delivery were also recorded. Inferior dental blocks were recorded as more painful than other sites. Older patients recorded less pain than younger patients. Other variables appeared to influence the pain recorded, often in an unexpected way. However, none of these other differences reached statistical significance. Our conclusions are that most dental injections are relatively painless, inferior dental blocks are more uncomfortable, and older patients report less pain.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Dickson, Dr Michael and Murray, Prof Colin
• Authors: Dickson, M., Gray, G., Martin, I., and Murray, C.A.
• Subjects: R Medicine > RK Dentistry
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences; College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Medicine, Dentistry & Nursing; College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Medicine, Dentistry & Nursing > Dental School
• Journal Name: Continuing Professional Development Dentistry
• ISSN: 1468-165X