Abstract

Aim: The present research was designed to evaluate the effect of LLLT on injection pain and anesthesia efficacy in local anesthesia applications of children undergoing pulpotomy.
Methodology
The study was conducted as a randomized, controlled-crossover, double-blind clinical trial with 60 children aged 6–9 years. Before local infiltration anesthesia was administered, only topical anesthesia was applied in one side (control group/CG), and topical anesthesia plus LLLT (a diode laser: 810 nm; continuous mode; 0.3W; 20 s; 69 J/cm2) was applied in the contralateral side (LG) as pre-anesthesia. The injection pain and anesthesia efficacy were evaluated subjectively and objectively using the Faces Pain Rating Scale (PRS) and the Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability (FLACC) scale respectively. Data were analyzed for statistical significance (p < .05).
Results: The only statistically significant difference found for the PRS was p < .05. The median pain score was “0” for the LG and the CG in the FLACC data for the evaluation of anesthesia efficacy, and there was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of pain and anesthesia duration (p > .05). Also, most of the children preferred injection with topical anesthesia + LLLT (66.7%).