BLIND TECHNIQUE” - AN EFFECTIVE TECHNIQUE FOR MANAGING ANXIOUS PEDIATRIC DENTAL PATIENTS WHILE ADMINISTERING LOCAL ANAESTHESIA

*Riya Hazarika, Halaswamy Vishwanath Kambalimath, Yamini Purohit, Satish Maran, Rini Gangwal and Niharika Vyas

ABSTRACT

Background: Fear and anxiety in a pediatric dental setup is the most encountered problem associated with stress, specially while administering local anesthesia. The mere sight of needle and syringes cause psychological trauma to the child thus interfering with the behaviour management of the child. The blind technique, a new strategy helping the child to eradicate needle fear and thus helping the dentist to proceed for necessary treatment. Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of Blind technique in comparison to Tell Show Do while administering Local Anaesthesia(LA). Method: One hundred healthy children aged 5 to 12 years who required LA injections for dental procedures were selected and divided into two groups with 50 patients in each group. Chota-Bheem & Chutki Scale and Visual Analog Scale were used for anxiety assessment which were tabulated and statistically analyzed. Result: Mean anxiety levels were significantly reduced with the Blind technique group followed by TSD group. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that Blind technique was able to reduce the psychological trauma of the children thus helping the pediatric dentist to perform the necessary treatment.

Keywords: Local anaesthesia, anxiety, needle fear, Randomized clinical trial.