Effect of immersive virtual reality on pain in different dental procedures in children: A pilot study

Abstract

Background: Implementing effective pain management is important to increase patient compliance during paediatric dental procedures.

Aim: This pilot study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of virtual reality (VR) on pain perception in dental procedures in children.

Material and methods: Fifty-four children aged between 5 and 12 years were included. Patients scheduled to receive dental procedures not requiring local anesthesia (eg, fluoride therapy) were assigned to Group A, and patients scheduled to receive painful dental procedures requiring local anesthesia (eg, pulp therapy, teeth extraction) were assigned to Group B. Patients in each group were randomly assigned and were equally likely to either receive VR during their dental procedure, or treatment as usual (without VR). Visual analog scale (VAS), Wong-Baker FACES rating scale, and the 'Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability' scale (FLACC scale) were used to assess the pain levels during dental procedures.

Results: Patients receiving painful dental procedures requiring local anesthesia reported significant reductions in pain intensity/worst pain during the dental procedure on all subjective and behavioral pain measures of pain intensity with the use of VR distraction technique (P < .05 on each). Patients receiving non-painful dental procedures showed the predicted pattern but no significant reduction in worst pain during VR.

Conclusion: The use of VR was found to be an effective distraction tool to ease pain and anxiety in the tested dental procedures, for children receiving painful dental procedures.

Keywords: dental; local anesthesia; paediatric; pain; virtual reality.