Vibrating toothbrush, ice, or topical anesthetic agent to reduce pain of local anesthetic injection in 5- to 12-year-old children undergoing dental procedures — a randomized controlled trial

Abstract Background Application of topical anesthetic agent prior to injection is the most commonly used method control initial needle penetration pain local injection. Ice and vibration stimulus application are other nonpharmacologic methods reduce painful sensations The present study aims verify compare anesthetic, ice pretreatment, electric toothbrush as a vibratory device, injections. was conducted on children aged 5–12 years, requiring extraction maxillary primary tooth. A randomized trial design wherein each child randomly assigned by permuted block randomization receive either lignocaine 5% or pretreatment motorized device during Sound, eye, motor (SEM) scale for objective evaluation injection, Faces Pain Scale (FPS) subjective evaluation. For statistical analysis, nonparametric test — Kruskal Wallis/ANOVA three groups between two Mann–Whitney U -test, SEM FPS values. Level significance chosen p < 0.05. Results (palatal) scores were slightly higher in group compared group, but differences not statistically significant. There no significant among (buccal) all groups. Conclusions cooling toothbrush-induced effective reduction due Trial registration CTRI number CTRI/2021/03/032046.