Roxner R, Berlin H, Klingberg G
Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Faculty of Odontology, Malmö University, SE-205 06, Malmö, Sweden.
Eur Arch Paediatr Dent. 2025 Jul 16. doi: 10.1007/s40368-025-01082-x.
The aim of this cross-sectional study was to explore how Swedish General Dental Practitioners (GDPs) and Specialists in Paediatric Dentistry (SPDs) use pharmacological pain management, focusing on local anesthetics (LA) when treating children.
582 GDPs in southern Sweden and 137 SPDs nationwide received a questionnaire with 4 clinical scenarios covering filling therapy and tooth extractions in children. Each scenario had questions about how often the dentist would use LA and topical anesthetics, answered on a 5-point Likert-type scale (Always, Often, Sometimes, Seldom, Never).
The overall response rate was 48.0% (243 GDPs and 102 SPDs). Use of LA reported as Always or Often was more common in SPDs than GDPs for filling therapy in primary molars (98.0% vs. 90.9%, p = 0.019) as well as in permanent molars (99.0% vs. 91.7%, p = 0.006). GDPs who reported Always or Often using LA for filling therapy in primary teeth were younger (42.2 years vs. 49.1 years, p = 0.004) and had fewer years of experience as a dentist (14.2 years vs. 19.9 years, p = 0.016) compared with GDPs reporting less frequent use.
There was an underuse of LA among GDPs when treating children. The reasons for refraining from LA are not fully understood, but possible contributing factors can be identified within work environment, insufficient undergraduate training and lack of organizational support and guidelines.
本横断面研究旨在探讨瑞典普通牙科医生（GDPs）和儿童牙科专家（SPDs）如何使用药物性疼痛管理，重点关注治疗儿童时局部麻醉剂（LA）的使用情况。
瑞典南部的582名GDPs和全国137名SPDs收到一份问卷，其中包含4个临床场景，涵盖儿童补牙治疗和拔牙。每个场景都有关于牙医使用LA和局部麻醉剂频率的问题，答案采用5点李克特量表（总是、经常、有时、很少、从不）。
总体回复率为48.0%（243名GDPs和102名SPDs）。在乳牙补牙治疗中，SPDs报告总是或经常使用LA的情况比GDPs更常见（98.0%对90.9%，p = 0.019），在恒牙补牙治疗中也是如此（99.0%对91.7%，p = 0.006）。与报告使用LA频率较低的GDPs相比，报告在乳牙补牙治疗中总是或经常使用LA的GDPs更年轻（42.2岁对49.1岁，p = 0.004），并且作为牙医的经验年限更少（14.2年对19.9年，p = 0.016）。
GDPs在治疗儿童时LA使用不足。不使用LA的原因尚未完全了解，但可能的促成因素可在工作环境、本科培训不足以及缺乏组织支持和指导方针中找到。
