Comparison of acceptance, preference, and efficacy between jet injection INJEX and local infiltration anesthesia in 6 to 11 year old dental patients.

Needleless devices have been developed to provide anesthesia without injections. Little controlled research has examined the acceptability of needleless devices in pediatric patients. The aims of the study were to compare children's acceptance and preference for one type of needleless jet injection with classical local infiltration as well as to evaluate the efficacy of the needleless anesthesia. Eighty-seven nonfearful children with no previous experience of dental anesthesia were studied using a split-mouth design. The first dental procedure was performed with the classical infiltration anesthesia. The same amount of anesthetic was administered using the INJEX needleless device in a second session 1 week later, during which a second dental procedure was performed. Patients rated their acceptance and preference for the 2 methods, and the dentist recorded data about the need for additional anesthesia. More negative experiences were reported for the INJEX method. Most (73.6%) of the children preferred the traditional method. Among the 87 treatment procedures attempted following the use of INJEX, 80.5% required additional anesthesia, compared with 2.3% of those attempted following traditional infiltration. Traditional infiltration was more effective, acceptable, and preferred, compared with the needleless INJEX.