INVESTIGATING FACTORS INFLUENCING THE AMOUNT OF INJECTION PAIN IN THE ORAL CAVITY: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Pain caused by injection is influenced by various factors including the type of anesthetic used, injection technique, needle gauge and size, injection speed, and individual patient characteristics. Technical and pharmacological advances, such as the use of modern equipment, buffering and warming solutions, or reducing pain with gels and numbing agents, aim to minimize the pain associated with injections. Investigating the factors influencing injection pain can lead to improvements in the quality of dental treatments and increase patient satisfaction. Hence, a systematic review was conducted to methodically examine the determinants affecting pain related to local anesthetic injections in the oral cavity. All stages of the study design were conducted based on the PRISMA guidelines. A comprehensive and extensive review of scientific and research article databases including PubMed, Web of Knowledge, Google Scholar, and Scopus was performed for the period from January, 2013, to January, 2024. Extracted information included authors, country, year, pain level, injection site, type of anesthetic, type of equipment used for injection, gender of patients, age of patients, factors affecting the level of pain during injection, and conclusions. The findings indicate that patients' individual characteristics, the type of substance and needle, and modern techniques and equipment like laser and microneedle patches are effective in reducing injection pain. Attention to psychological factors and the use of appropriate tools based on the injection site play a crucial role in pain management; however, some methods require further research for standardization.