title: Stress and anxiety in children after the use of computerized dental anesthesia.
abstract: The aim of this study was to evaluate the transitory stress levels and the anxiety state in children submitted to conventional and computerized dental anesthesia. Twenty children (7 to 12 years) were randomly assigned to receive conventional and computerized dental anesthesia. To investigate the hypothesis that transitory stress could be lower after using computerized anesthesia compared to conventional anesthesia, cortisol levels in saliva were measured before and after each technique. Anxiety was also evaluated individually by answering the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC). Numerical data were analyzed statistically by the Mann-Whitney non-parametric test (5% significance level). Salivary cortisol levels increased in 8 (40%) patients after conventional anesthesia and in 9 (45%) patients after computerized anesthesia, with no statistically significant difference between the two types (p=0.34). In the same way, no statistically significant difference was found between the techniques (p=0.39) related to the psychological analysis based on the STAIC scores. Local anesthesia using either conventional anesthesia or a computerized delivery system produced similar level of stress/anxiety in pediatric patients, using both quantitative and qualitative analyses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dentistry of Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brasil.
authors.forename: Alexandra M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Queiroz
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dentistry of Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brasil.
authors.forename: Ariany B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dentistry of Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brasil.
authors.forename: Laís L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Censi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Education, School of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brasil.
authors.forename: Carmen L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Cardoso
authors.affiliation: Department of Morphology, Phisiology and Basic Pathology, School of Dentistry of Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brasil.
authors.forename: Christie R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Leite-Panissi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dentistry of Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brasil.
authors.forename: Raquel Assed Bezerra
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: da Silva
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dentistry of Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brasil.
authors.forename: Fabricio Kitazono
authors.initials: FK
authors.lastname: de Carvalho
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dentistry of Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brasil.
authors.forename: Paulo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nelson-Filho
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dentistry of Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brasil.
authors.forename: Lea Assed Bezerra
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: da Silva
mesh_terms: D000766:Anesthesia, Dental / Q000379:methods*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D003201:Computers; D016854:Dental Anxiety; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000032:analysis; D008297:Male; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry; D013315:Stress, Psychological
chemical_list: D006854:Hydrocortisone