Effectiveness of precooling with ethyl chloride versus honey in alleviating intra-oral injection pain in adult patients: A randomized controlled trial

Abstract

The objective of the study was to assess and compare the effectiveness of precooling with ethyl chloride versus honey in alleviating the pain of dental injection. About 90 patients were recruited for this randomized controlled trial. In each of the following three groups, 30 patients were allocated: Group 1, precooling with ethyl chloride; Group 2, honey; and Group 3, control. The pain score of patients in each group was measured after injecting the dental local anesthesia using a visual analog scale. Paired t-test and multiple linear regression tests were used for statistical analysis. A p value of ⩽0.05 was considered to be as significant. The mean pain scores of participants residing in different groups were as follows: Group 1: 2.83 ± 1.46, Group 2: 4.33 ± 1.62, and Group 3: 7.80. After administrating ethyl chloride, the majority of the 18 (60%) patients reported to suffer from "mild pain." Furthermore, in patients who were given honey in Group 2, most of the 21 (70%) patients reported suffering from "moderate pain." In Group 3 (control) where no anesthetic modality was used, the majority of the 25 (83.33%) patients experienced "severe pain." A significant difference was noted among the pain scores of three groups (p = 0.001). The administration of local anesthetic is part of almost all dental procedures. Precooling with ethyl chloride resulted in a greater reduction in pain scores than honey upon administration of local anesthesia injection.