Evaluation of pain in children using animated emoji scale: A novel self-reporting pain assessment tool

Abstract

Background: Pain perception of children in dental clinics is difficult to assess. Conventionally, visual analog scale (VAS) and Wong–Baker Faces Pain Scale (WBFPS) are used as self-reporting pain assessment tools in children. Novel animated emoji scale (AES) is recently introduced for pain assessment in pediatric patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the pain using the novel AES in 3–14-year-old children and to compare it with frequently used VAS and WBFPS. Methods: A cross-sectional study recruited 266 patients in the 3–14-year age group with their first dental visit. Participants were divided into three groups on the basis of age: Group I–3–6 years, Group II–7–10 years, and Group III–11–14 years, and the pain was recorded using self-reporting tools, i.e., VAS, WBFPS, and recently introduced AES after the completion of dental procedure. Data were evaluated using the Pearson correlation test and Chi-square test. Results: A strong positive correlation among VAS, WBFPS, and AES in all the groups was observed (P < 0.05). AES was preferred more over VAS and WBFPS in all the groups for pain assessment (P < 0.001). Conclusions: AES as a self-reporting tool can be used frequently to assess the pain in children. AES was preferred over VAS and WBFPS due to its ease of understanding by children.