Intra-Operative Pain Perception in Tooth Extraction

Objectives: To elicit the perception of pain in patients undergoing dental extraction under local anaesthesia and also to identify factors that might contribute to this experience despite the administration of a local anaesthesia. Methods: Study included 122 randomly selected single-tooth extraction patients attending the dental clinic in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Informed consent was obtained from patients who subsequently completed a questionnaire on the Coral Dental Anxiety Scale prior to treatment. Details documented for each patient include the demographics, history of previous tooth extraction and the status of the operator. The extraction was timed from the application of instrument till tooth delivery. Immediately after extractions, patients were asked to indicate on a multi-coloured strip of Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) scores graded 0-10, the level of pain perceived during extraction. The data was subjected to simple descriptive and statistical analysis using SPSS for window 11.0. Result: Positive correlations were found between the VAS and the anxiety scores, the attending surgeons’ status and patients’ anxiety score and the duration of surgery and the VAS scores. A significant difference was found between the anxiety and the VAS scores in the different occupational groups. Conclusion: These results suggest that the status of the attending surgeon may affect the level of anxiety in patients undergoing tooth extractions prior to surgery. While patient’s occupational group and duration of surgery could contribute to patient’s intra-operative pain perception despite the administration of a local anaesthesia.