Background: Intraosseous (IO) anaesthesia has been shown to be effective in children. However, the pain associated with anaesthetic injections, and its acceptance by children, have never been studied.
Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the pain associated with the IO injection of 4% articaine with 1 : 200 000 epinephrine using the computerized QuickSleeper' system in a population of children and adolescents.
Design: IO anaesthesia was performed on patients aged 10.4 +/- 2.6 years of age. The patients assessed their pain on a faces pain scale (FPS) and on a visual analogue scale (VAS). The operators were also asked to assess signs of patient pain/discomfort.
Results: No pain or mild discomfort was reported by, respectively, 81.8% (FPS) and 83.9% (VAS) of the patients. Some 58.9% of children with previous experience of dental anaesthesia reported that computerized IO anaesthesia was more comfortable than traditional infiltration methods. Operators noted signs of discomfort during penetration and injection in 18.3% and 25.3% of the patients, respectively.
Conclusions: This study showed that the majority of children reported no pain or mild pain when anaesthetic was administered by computerized needle rotation and solution deposition. This technique holds promise for use by trained paediatric dentists.