The effect of video games on the behavioral response and self-assessment of pain prior to inferior alveolar nerve block administration in children

Local anesthesia injection is one of the painful and stressful experiences in children during dental procedures. Distraction is one of the non-pharmacological methods for controlling pain during treatments. Using video games is one of the distraction methods. The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of video game distraction on pain control during the inferior alveolar nerve block administration in 6-9-year-old children.
This is a randomized controlled clinical trial, in which 33 girls and 27 boys were divided into control and experimental groups. The experimental group was provided with a video game prior to the anesthesia injection, but the control group only had the parents by their side. Children's behavioral response during anesthesia injection was measured by the face, legs, activity, cry and consolability (FLACC) scale and the Wong Baker Faces Pain Self-Rating Scale. The obtained results were analyzed using independent t-test, chi square, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests in SPSS ver. 16.
FLACC scale showed a statistically significant difference between the control and experimental groups (P = 0.013). That is the mean pain score in the experimental group (1.1 ± 10.18) is lower than the control group (2.2 ± 86.24). Also, Wong Baker scale also showed a statistically significant difference between the control and experimental groups in terms of the mean pain self-assessment score (P <0.0001). That is, the mean pain score in the experimental group (1.1 ± 67.82) was lower than that in the control group (4.2 ±62.82).
The results of the present study showed that video games have a positive and significant effect on pain control during the inferior alveolar nerve block among 6-9-year-old children.