Published online Oct 6, 2019. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v7.i19.2986
Peer-review started: May 9, 2019
First decision: August 1, 2019
Revised: August 29, 2019
Accepted: September 9, 2019
Article in press: September 9, 2019
Published online: October 6, 2019
Processing time: 153 Days and 19.4 Hours
Traditional anesthesia sometimes results in painful patient experiences. However, contemporary innovations in local anesthesia delivery, such as Single Tooth Anesthesia (STA) System, which is a computer-controlled local anesthetic delivery system, may provide pain free STA to dental patients with no collateral numbness.
Although studies have compared pain of injection with the computer-assisted injection system to a conventional syringe, there is not much literature specifically for the intra-ligamentary STA technique. Therefore, we hypothesized that STA is equivalent to traditional local anesthesia in reducing the pain associated with routine dental procedures.
The research objectives of the study were to compare pain rating and changes in blood pressure and heart rate during the STA and traditional local infiltration. In addition, patients’ level of satisfaction and anesthetic efficiency of STA and traditional local infiltration techniques were compared.
A randomized controlled trial was conducted, and a total of 80 patients with dental restorative needs were enrolled for the study. The patients were randomly divided into the STA group and the traditional infiltration group. A structured data form to collect information regarding perceived pain, changes in heart rate and blood pressure, and patients’ satisfaction was collected using an electronic data form and was analyzed using paired and unpaired t-tests.
No significant differences were noted in the perceived pain and systolic blood pressure during anesthetic injection using both traditional and STA techniques. A statistically significant difference was noted among the traditional anesthesia and the STA groups before anesthesia. During the restorative procedure, statistically significant less pain was perceived by STA patients on the Wong-Baker FACES pain scale. Analyses of post-procedure patient responses showed that STA patients had a significantly better treatment experience and preferred to have the same method of injection in the future.
STA system can provide less painful and more comfortable restorative treatment procedures in comparison to the traditional infiltration technique.
Clinically, STA appears to be a suitable alternative to traditional infiltration, as it provokes minimal pain on injection and minimal anxiety. In addition, STA seems to be highly beneficial because of its profound anesthetic effect during restorative procedures, thereby increasing patients’ satisfaction and compliance.