Page 53 - Demo

Analgesic effects of preinjection low-level laser/light therapy513Table VI: Independent samples t-test results for the upper jaw in male and female patientsMale FemalePlacebo LLLT Placebo LLLTM SD M SD n P M SD M SD n PExpected injection pain 3.6 1.7 4.1 2.3 21 0.62 4.6 2.7 6.6 1.8 20 0.06Pre-injection anxiety 1.6 1.9 2.9 2.4 21 0.23 5.1 3.1 6.8 2.8 20 0.21Experienced injection pain 3.9 3.3 3.1 2.1 21 0.55 3.8 2.4 4.3 2.0 20 0.62Experienced injection anxiety 2.6 1.9 2.4 2.4 21 0.89 4.6 3.2 6.0 2.3 20 0.26HR ph1 78.3 14.2 77.4 11.9 21 0.87 86.7 14.5 92.7 15.9 20 0.39GSR ph1 4.4 2.0 4.3 2.6 21 0.94 6.6 10.1 3.9 1.2 20 0.38HR ph2 72.2 17.2 67.4 12.9 21 0.49 80.5 16.6 72.3 24.3 20 0.41GSR ph2 5.4 2.7 5.3 3.3 21 0.91 8.7 14.3 11.4 21.6 20 0.75LLLT, low-level laser therapy; M, mean; SD, standard deviation; HR, heart rate; ph1, phase 1; GSR, galvanic skin response; ph2, phase 2. Pre-injection anxiety, expected pain, and experienced painPatients were asked how afraid they were of dental injections, how much pain they expected from the injection, how afraid they were during the injections, and how much pain they experienced during the injections. Table VII shows the assessed correlations between these variables. Experienced injection pain was most strongly correlated with anxiety during the injections (r=0.61), and was to a lesser extent correlated to the experienced injection pain (r=52). Pre-injection anxiety was correlated to the expectation of injection pain (r=0.63) and to the anxiety experienced during the injection (r=0.75), and was less strongly correlated with the pain experienced during the injection (r=0.44). Pearson’s correlations showed no strong correlations between the physiological measurements and the subjective measurements determined by questionnaire. Interestingly, the strongest correlation found was between preinjection anxiety and HR during injections in phase 2 (r=0.29).