Pain-related behaviour in children: a randomised study during two sequential dental visits.

AIM: To determine the difference in pain- and distress-related behaviour in children between two consecutive dental treatment sessions using a computer-controlled local anaesthetic delivery system, with dental anxiety as co-variable. METHODS: A randomised prospective study over two sequential visits in three paediatric dental practices. For both visits 112 young, healthy children needing dental treatment were randomly assigned to either the use of the Wand(®) or the Sleeper One(®). All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 17. A significance level of p < 0.01 was used, correcting for conducting a high number of tests. RESULTS: Children showed significantly more muscle tension, more verbal protest, and more crying or screaming during the second treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Sequential dental treatments seem to have a conditioning effect. It is important to know the level of dental anxiety to adjust the treatment sequence to the needs of the child.

Comparison of two computerised anaesthesia delivery systems: pain and pain-related behaviour in children during a dental injection.

AIM: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there is a difference in pain and distress response of the child when using two different computer-controlled local analgesic delivery systems, the Sleeper One(®) and the WAND(®), and whether this was influenced by the anxiety level of the child. METHODS: This randomised controlled trial was conducted among 112 children (56 girls) aged 4-6 years (mean age 66 months, SD 9 months). All children needing at least one dental visit using local analgesia were randomly assigned to either the Sleeper One(®) or the WAND(®). RESULTS: During the injection phase, children expressed the same amount of disruptive behaviour using the Sleeper One(®) or the WAND(®) (Mann-Whitney U test, p > 0.05). The average injection time of the Sleeper One(®) (mean 2.49 min, SD 0.56) was significantly shorter than that of the WAND(®) (mean 3.20 min, SD 0.61; Mann-Whitney U test, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: No significant difference was found in pain and distress reaction of the child between the WAND(®) and the Sleeper One(®). The average delivery time of the Sleeper One(®) was shorter.