Effectiveness of Local Anesthesia in Children's Pain Perception and Sedation During Dental Procedures Under General Anesthesia—A Randomized Clinical Study

Hisham, Abdul Rauf Badrul; Pavithra, S; Mahesh, R; Deepa, G

doi:10.21608/asdj.2024.295745.1310

Effectiveness of Local Anesthesia in Children's Pain Perception and Sedation During Dental Procedures Under General Anesthesia—A Randomized Clinical Study

Document Type : Consort randomized clinical trials (RCT)

Authors

¹ Centre of Paediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics Studies, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Sungai Buloh Campus, Selangor, Malaysia.

² Post graduate student, Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, Saveetha Dental College, Chennai, India.

³ Professor, Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, Saveetha Dental College, Chennai, India.

10.21608/asdj.2024.295745.1310

Abstract

Aim: This study aims to assess the impact of 2% Lignocaine as a local anesthetic on children’s pain perception and sedation during dental treatments performed under general anesthesia.
Materials and methods: The study is a double-blind, randomized clinical trial with a parallel design, involving 54 children (25 girls and 29 boys) aged 3 to 6 years, who underwent full-mouth rehabilitation under general anesthesia. Pain was measured immediately post-surgery and two hours later using the FLACC and Wong-Baker pain scales. Heart rate, blood pressure, and end-tidal CO2 levels were recorded five minutes before and after each procedure. Independent t-tests and Mann–Whitney U tests were used for statistical analysis.
Results: Significant differences in end-tidal CO2 levels were found after restoration (p=0.044). Heart rate, diastolic blood pressure, and end-tidal CO2 levels showed significant changes post-pulp therapy with p-values of 0.007, 0.023, and 0.001, respectively. No significant changes were observed in anesthesia depth based on PRST scores. FLACC scores remained similar across groups immediately and two hours post-procedure. However, subjective pain scores from the Wong-Baker scale indicated significant differences (p=0.003) two hours after the procedure.
Conclusion: Administering 2% Lignocaine as a local anesthetic helps stabilize intraoperative vital signs but does not significantly reduce postoperative pain.

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