Page 55 - Demo

Analgesic effects of preinjection low-level laser/light therapy53320% benzocaine topical anesthesia, pressure, and light touch as a control in palatal injections. They found no statistically significant difference in pain score among the groups; however, the median pain score in the LLLT group was clearly reduced compared to in the other groups. The inconsistent results associated with LLLT from our study and others may be perhaps explained by different irradiation parameters and application technique.Gender comparisons in prior studies suggest that women experience a higher pain expectation and higher anxiety rate. Compared to men, women had higher mean scores on the fear of dental pain (FDP) and the short version of the Dental Anxiety Inventory (S-DAI).5 In the data from our population women showed higher mean scores in pain and anxiety expectations and experiences, this is similar to previous findings.4,5,19 Women also showed higher physiological measurements, including higher mean scores for HR and sweat production, although only the difference in sweat production was found to be significant. There are several points that should be considered regarding the present study. Pain experience is partly influenced by previous experiences, this is difficult to account for in an investigation and reduces the reliability of the results acquired from questionnaires. Moreover, data for both mandibular block and palatal injection procedures were included. Data from a previous study suggest that the pain experience varies among different injection locations, with palatal injections found to be the most painful.6 Unfortunately, in our study, only 41 participants underwent maxillary third molar extractions compared to 122 participants undergoing procedures in the mandibular region. Thus, the major limitation of our study was that the number of participants with palatal injections was insufficient to draw reliable conclusions regarding the clinical application of LLLT specifically for palatal injections (Power 80%: n=122).The NeXus-10 was used to detect physiological changes that could indicate pain experience during local injections. In addition to pain, anxiety can also enhance epinephrine release. In general, elevated epinephrine levels can cause increases in HR and sweat production, so it is possible that higher physiological responses were influenced by both the pain during the injection and the anxiety regarding the needle itself.6,7 This physiological reasoning supports the reliability of data obtained from the NeXus-10.