Metallic syringe versus electronically assisted injection system: a comparative clinical study in children

Local anaesthesia injection necessary for pain control in paediatric dentistry may itself be painful sometimes, partly because of the pressure felt during injection; electronically assisted injection systems were developed to address this problem.

Study design: The present study is a clinical study in children that compared two types of devices for paediatric buccal infiltration anaesthesia: the aspirating syringe and an electronically assisted injection system, the Wand STA. A split mouth, randomised controlled clinical trial was conducted on 30 healthy six to eight-year-old patients (6.64 ± 0.803 years) requiring pulpotomies on two symmetrical primary maxillary molars. Each patient received the following types of anaesthesia, in separate, consecutive, randomly ordered sessions: conventional buccal infiltration by metallic aspirating syringe and buccal infiltration by computer-controlled local anaesthetic device (Single Tooth Anesthesia). Parameters assessed were: pain experienced during injection, patient's heart rate and behaviour, anaesthesia quantity required and onset time.

No statistical differences were observed between the two techniques (p? 0.05) for all assessed parameters.

Results suggest that computer-assisted anaesthesia may represent an alternative to conventional syringes for local buccal anaesthesia in paediatric dental treatment; comparison to other types of dental infiltration anaesthesia needs further investigation.