Effect of audiovisual eyeglasses during local anesthesia injections in 5- to 8-year-old children.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effectiveness of audiovisual (AV) eyeglasses on pain reduction during local anesthetic injection in children who are 5 to 8 years old.


METHODS
Forty-nine healthy, cooperative children with bilateral carious molars requiring treatment under local anesthesia were recruited in this crossover study. Treatments were done in two visits, 1 to 4 weeks apart. Subjects were randomly divided into two groups according to the sequence of AV eyeglasses used. Group I received the injection without wearing AV eyeglasses in the first visit and then wearing AV eyeglasses in a second visit. Group II was vice versa. Self-reporting pain using the Faces Pain Scale-Revised (FPS-R), face, legs, activity, crying, and consolability scale (FLACC), and heart rate (HR), were measured to assess the injection pain.


RESULTS
No significant differences in sex (P = .132) and treatment arch (P = .779) were observed between the two groups using a chi-square test at P < .05. There were no significant differences in age (P = .341, t test at P ≤ .05) and previous dental experience (P = .19, Fisher's exact test at P ≤ .05) between the two groups. Pain scores were lower when the patients had their injection while wearing AV eyeglasses in both groups. No subject reported a maximum score on the pain rating scale when wearing AV eyeglasses, while 14% of the subjects reported so when not wearing the eyeglasses. AV eyeglasses significantly reduced FLACC scores (P = .03) and HR (P = .005) when compared with not wearing the eyeglasses (Mann-Whitney U test at P ≤ .05).


CONCLUSIONS
AV eyeglasses successfully reduced pain, physical distress, and HR during local anesthesia injection.
Yuwadee
Y
Asvanund
Kemthong
K
Mitrakul
Ratana-on
RO
Juhong
Malee
M
Arunakul
D000766:Anesthesia, Dental / Q000379:methods*; D000772:Anesthesia, Local / Q000379:methods*; D000779:Anesthetics, Local / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001296:Audiovisual Aids; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D016854:Dental Anxiety / Q000517:prevention & control; D019140:Dental Care for Children; D005139:Eyeglasses; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D007267:Injections; D008297:Male; D059408:Pain Management / Q000379:methods*
D000779:Anesthetics, Local