Editorial Type:
Article Category: Research Article
 | 
Online Publication Date: Jun 01, 2005

Lack of Pain Reduction by a Vibrating Local Anesthetic Attachment: A Pilot Study

DDS,
DDS,
DDS, PhD, and
DDS, PhD
Page Range: 62 – 64
DOI: 10.2344/0003-3006(2005)52[62:LOPRBA]2.0.CO;2
Save
Download PDF

Abstract

A vibrating dental local anesthesia attachment (Vibraject, LLC, Calif) based on the concept of the gate-control theory has been used in clinical practice. The theoretical advantage of the vibrating needle is that it reduces the injection pain. We evaluated the effectiveness of Vibraject in combination with an electrical injection device. Injections were given into the alveolar mucosa adjacent to the root apex of the maxillary lateral incisor in 10 volunteers. Vibraject was randomly applied to either the left or right side of the injection. No statistically significant decrease in pain scores was found at needle insertion or anesthetic injection. The clinical efficacy of Vibraject remains controversial.

Keywords: Local anesthesia; Injection; Pain; Vibrating needle
  • Download PDF
Copyright: © 2005 by the American Dental Society of Anesthesiology
Figure 1.
Figure 1.

Setup for connecting Vibraject to Anaeject.

Figure 2.
Figure 2.

Pain assessment at needle insertion and anesthetic injection with a visual analog scale. No statistically significant differences occurred between the control and Vibraject groups in either of the 2 conditions.

Figure 3.
Figure 3.

Pain assessment at needle insertion and anesthetic injection with the pain rating score. No statistically significant differences occurred between the control and Vibraject groups in either of the 2 conditions.

Contributor Notes

Address correspondence to Dr Minori Saijo, Department of Dental Anesthesiology, Tokyo Dental College, Chiba, Japan; okudam@tdc.ac.jp.
Received: Jun 01, 2004
Accepted: Jan 26, 2005