Overview

The goal of this observational study is to compare the intensity of pain experienced by children (aged 6 to 15) during local anaesthesia with that perceived by the parent accompanying them. The main question it aims to answer is:

Can a parent help assess their child's pain when the child is unable to assess it themselves? A preliminary study carried out in the dentistry department of Clermont-Ferrand University Hospital in 2019 showed that parents could be effective external assessors in distinguishing between pain and anxiety in their own children, whom they know well, and were better at this than dentists, who are more prone to errors of judgement.13 This pilot study covered several dental procedures, including pulpotomy, extraction of a primary tooth, curettage of a carious lesion and dental anaesthesia. The study yielded interesting results but also contained some biases, so the investigators would like to improve upon it. To do so, the focus here is on a single therapeutic procedure: local anaesthesia, which is one of the procedures most feared by children and, very often, by the parents accompanying them as well.

Once consent has been obtained from both parents (or legal guardians), two questionnaires will be used. The first will consist of simple questions and will be aimed at the children (9 items). The second (20 items) will be for parents and will provide additional information on the child's state of health and on the parents' anxiety regarding their own dental care and that provided to their child. The main aim of both questionnaires will be to assess the intensity of pain perceived by the child during the administration of local anaesthesia, with the child self-reporting their pain and the parent providing an external assessment. These questionnaires will be completed every Wednesday, which allows a child (requiring multiple treatments) to complete the questionnaires several times, thereby enabling us to observe changes in the pain perceived by the child and their accompanying parent over the course of successive anaesthetic procedures.

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Children aged 6 to 15
• Children requiring dental treatment involving local anaesthetic
• Children accompanied by at least one parent (or legal guardian)
• Children and parents who speak French fluently

Exclusion Criteria:

• Children under the age of 6 (complex self-assessment)
• Children over the age of 15 (no longer fall within the scope of paediatric dentistry)
• Children or accompanying parents who have difficulty understanding due to a limited command of French or any form of intellectual disability
• Children whose parents have not consented to their participation in the study
• Children who do not wish to participate in the study
• Unaccompanied children
• Children with an intolerance or allergy to local anaesthetics, vasoconstrictors or excipients