Children's self-reported pain at the dentist.

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Dentistry
• Pain Perception
• Child Psychology

Background:

• Understanding children's pain perception during dental visits is crucial for effective treatment.
• Factors like age, prior dental experiences, and anxiety levels can influence pain reporting.
• Sequential dental visits offer a unique opportunity to study pain memory and adaptation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate children's self-reported pain across two consecutive dental appointments.
• To determine the influence of age, previous dental experience, dental anxiety, and injection site on pain.
• To analyze the relationship between pain experienced in the first and second dental visits.

Main Methods:

• 147 children aged 4-11 years participated.
• Pain was self-reported after local anesthesia injection.
• Dental anxiety was assessed using the parental version of the Dental Subscale of the Children's Fear Survey Schedule.

Main Results:

• Young children with low dental anxiety showed increased pain sensitivity over visits.
• Young children with high dental anxiety reported maximum pain during the first visit.
• Older children with prior dental experience reported higher pain during the first visit.
• Pain in the second visit was strongly predicted by pain reported in the first visit for all children.

Conclusions:

• Previous dental experiences and memory significantly impact children's pain perception and behavior in subsequent treatments.
• Pain memory plays a critical role in shaping children's responses to dental procedures.
• Tailoring dental approaches based on prior experiences and anxiety levels is recommended.