Introduction: There is an urgent need to develop and improve techniques that decrease pain in the dental visit especially during injections. Topical anesthesia was found to be one of the most effective methods to control pain associated with injections in children.
Objectives: we aimed in this study to evaluate the effectiveness of gel patch form of benzocaine anesthetic in comparison to oral benzocaine gel applied before palatal injection in children in reducing the pain associated with injection procedure.
Materials and Methods: A randomized split-mouth clinical trial was carried out with a sample of 32 children ranging in age between 6 and 8 years old that met the inclusion criteria. Each participant attended two visits to receive both forms of topical anesthetics and the outcome was measured using Face Pain Scale- Revised (FPS-R) and Sound Eye Motor (SEM) scales.
Results: A highly statistical significant difference was found between the two forms of benzocaine in reducing pain. Both FPS- R and SEM scales gave lower scores when BZC gel patch was applied with P=.0001 and P=.001 respectively.
Conclusion: Benzocaine gel patch form has a superior effect in reducing pain associated with palatal injection in children.