While debonding, the anterior area of the oral cavity and females appear to have high sensitivity to pain. The use of finger pressure is effective for pain management during debonding.

A study sought to determine the efficacy of four different approaches on pain alleviation during debonding and their link with location and gender.

This randomized controlled trial included 140 orthodontic people (61 male, 79 females) in the stage of debonding. Based on methods used during debonding, the volunteers were randomized into four groups (i) Group A (n=35): Medication group that received paracetamol one hour prior to debonding, (ii) Group B (n=35): Finger pressure group, (iii) Group C (n=35): Stress relief group, and (iv) Group D (n=35): Control group. For quantifying the intensity of pain just after debonding for each sextant, a visual analog scale (VAS) was utilized.

Among all the four groups, the pain perceived during debonding varied in different areas of the oral cavity. The total VAS score was higher in the control group, followed by the stress relief group and finger pressure group, and least in the medication group, as shown in Table 1:

In all the groups, the VAS score was noted to be greater in the lower front and upper front sextants. Compared to men, women stated higher VAS scores and in the upper front sextant, it illustrated a considerable difference. On comparison, there were profound differences in the total VAS scores in the finger pressure-control group pair, medication-stress relief group pair, and medication-control group pair. However, the total VAS score comparison between the medication-finger pressure group was not clinically significant.

Although the medication (paracetamol) group had a reduced VAS score when compared to the control group, finger pressure can also be used as an effective approach to manage pain during orthodontic debonding as it is less time-consuming, easy, inexpensive, and less technique sensitive.