Sugar-free flavour eases dental injection pain in children, study finds!

A recent study published in the ‘International Journal of Pediatric Dentistry’ implied that administering a sugar-free flavour before dental injections can help alleviate pain in children. This finding comes from a randomized crossover study involving 84 children aged 4 to 9 years who required dental injections on both sides of their mouths.

During the study, the children received buccal infiltration injections with a sugar-free flavour on one side and sterile water on the other. Along with characteristics, such as body mass index (BMI) and sweet taste preference (STP), the researchers recorded various parameters related to pain perception, including heart rate and Wong-Baker Faces pain scale (WBFPS).

Most of the children in the study were within a healthy weight range (72.6%) and had an equal preference for sweet taste (32.1%). A notable reduction in mean heart rate during injection, differences in heart rate before and during injection, and SEM scores, all with p-values less than 0.001 was noticed where the sugar-free flavour was administered. However, there was no significant disparity in pain perception measured by the WBFPS between the visits. 

The use of the flavour had a substantial impact on reducing pain whereas age, gender, BMI, STP and treatment side did not have a notable impact. Also, the order of treatment administration significantly affected total SEM scores (p = 0.021); patients who received the flavour during their first visit had lower SEM scores.