Children and carer's experience and satisfaction of two local anaesthetic techniques; for treatment of carious mandibular primary molars in children

Background: Local anaesthesia (LA) forms the backbone of pain control techniques in dentistry and has a major role in dentistry for children. Inferior Dental Nerve Block (IDNB) has been the LA technique of choice for treatment of carious mandibular primary molars in children. However, several disadvantages have been associated with the IDNB. Buccal Infiltration (BI) with 4% Articaine have been proposed as more comfortable and pleasant alternative LA techniques to IDNB which became widely used in paediatric dentistry especially for the treatment of carious mandibular primary molars in children above the age of 4 years.

Aim: To explore children and carer`s experience and satisfaction of their child’s dental treatment under LA and compare their acceptance of two LA techniques; BI with 4% Articaine and IDNB with 2% lidocaine for the treatment of mandibular carious primary molars in children under ten years of age.

Method: A prospective study design was used to explore patient and carer`s acceptance of the two local anaesthetic techniques. 96 patients aged 5-9 years and their carer`s completed two questionnaires on treatment acceptance.

Result: A total of 49 (50%) participants received BI with 4% Articaine and 49 (50%) had IDNB with 2% lidocaine. Two patients had IDNB but no dental treatment was performed as patients could not cope with dental treatment, thus these participants did not complete the questionnaires. The majority of the children (84.7%) and their carers (91%) were happy with their experience at the dentist including the administration of the LA (61.5% for BI and 64% for IDNB), delivery of the dental treatment (87.8% for BI and 81.6% for IDNB) and dentist management including dental teamwork (over 90%).

Conclusion: Both local anaesthetic techniques; BI with 4% articaine and IDNB with 2% lignocaine were accepted among patients and carers. Dental team attitude can significantly impact the treatment outcome in children. Establishing a clear communication between the dentist, the child patient and his/her carer as well as implementing good behaviour management techniques contribute significantly to treatment acceptance among children and carers.