Pain experienced by patients during periodontal maintenance treatment.
BACKGROUND
The aims of this study were to assess the degree of pain experienced by patients during probing and debridement and to determine whether the pain responses could be predicted by the patient's age, gender, percentage of sites > or = 4 mm deep, and responses to a questionnaire on dental anxiety.


METHODS
Prior to the maintenance procedures, 26 adult patients completed an anxiety questionnaire. Subsequently, measurements of probing depths were performed. The patients activated a tallying device at each probe entry that evoked pain (pain frequency). Pain levels for each quadrant were also assessed with a visual analog scale (VAS). Following probing, the same protocol was repeated during instrumentation (debridement).


RESULTS
Most patients showed low pain responses to both probing and instrumentation as evaluated by both methods of measurement. However, using arbitrary thresholds of pain frequency > or = 50% and VAS > or = 40 mm, approximately 15% of the patients had a painful experience. Stepwise multiple regression analyses disclosed that significant portions of the pain levels could be predicted by gender and the patients' answers to 2 of the dental anxiety questions.


CONCLUSIONS
Recognition of patients who are likely to experience pain during periodontal treatment can be facilitated by the use of 2 questions on dental anxiety and the VAS response to probing during examination.
Karadottir
Hildur
H
Advanced Education Program in Periodontics and Implant Surgery, School of Dentistry, Loma Linda University, CA, USA.
Lenoir
Lettie
L
Barbierato
Barbara
B
Bogle
Mary
M
Riggs
Matt
M
Sigurdsson
Thorarinn
T
Crigger
Max
M
Egelberg
Jan
J
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D016854:Dental Anxiety / Q000145:classification / Q000523:psychology; D003791:Dental Pulp Test; D012534:Dental Scaling / Q000009:adverse effects*; D003807:Dentin Sensitivity / Q000145:classification; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016555:Matched-Pair Analysis; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D017288:Pain Threshold; D010510:Periodontal Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010514:Periodontal Pocket / Q000145:classification / Q000628:therapy; D010517:Periodontics / Q000295:instrumentation; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012737:Sex Factors; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013357:Subgingival Curettage / Q000009:adverse effects*