Local anesthesia is generally required for periodontal treatment procedures. Objective: This study compared subject pain perception of anesthetic injections in 20 randomly selected patients with moderate periodontal disease who needed therapeutic scaling. This randomized, crossover design, stratified by gender, compared pain perception using Visual Analogue Scales (VAS) 100 mm in length, and Verbal Response Scales (VRS), rated 1 to 5. Local anesthetic was delivered using a computer-controlled system (Wand[TM], Milestone Scientific, Inc.) and compared to delivery using conventional aspirating syringes. Method: Treatment was performed half-mouth at each of two appointments, and each subject served as his/her own control. Three trained dental hygienists collected data after each injection, and provided S/RP. Injections performed were IA, LB, PSA, AMSA (Friedman and Hochman 1997) with the computer device and IA, LB, PSA, MSA, ASA, GP, NP with the conventional syringe. The AMSA anesthetizes an area similar to that provided by the MSA, ASA, GP and NP injections. Results: Preliminary analysis using paired t-tests revealed that VAS and VRS scores demonstrated significantly lower pain scores (p<0.05) for the computer-controlled AMSA injections v ASA, GP, and NP respectively. VAS and VRS for AMSA were 19.6±15.6 and 2.3±0.9 respectively. The scores for the ASA were 34.4±26.6 and 2.9±1.0; GP 43.4±30.0 and 3.25±0.9; NP 38.3±25.5and 2.9±0.8. There were no significant differences between the device and the syringe on either scale for the PSA when compared to the AMSA, the MSA compared to the AMSA, the IA and LB. Female subjects reported more pain felt than male subjects. Conclusions: Results indicate that the AMSA injection was significantly less painful than 3 of the 4 injections it replaced in the maxillary arch, there were no significant differences in the mandibular arch. The comparable healing results for both treatments have been reported in a companion abstract. Supported by a grant from Milestone Scientific, Inc.

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