COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF VIBROTACTILE DEVICE WITH TOPICAL ANAESTHETIC PATCH TO REDUCE PAIN DURING ADMINISTRATION OF LOCAL ANAESTHESIA IN PAEDIATRIC DENTAL PATIENTS

Background: Pain and discomfort are usually associated with dental procedures. Pain control can be achieved by using anaesthesia. Ointments, anaesthetic sprays, gels or adhesive patch are topical local anaesthetic agents which are utilized to reduce pain of local anaesthetic injections, but these methods have their own limitations. Recently, the concept of applying vibration stimuli during local anaesthetic administration has been introduced as a non-pharmacological technique to reduce pain perception associated with injections.Therefore, the painless administration of local anaesthetic agents is crucial in providing optimum dental care. Aim: To compare and evaluate the effectiveness of topical anaesthetic patch and vibrotactile device in reducing pain during administration of local anaesthesia in paediatric dental patients.