Pain control in local analgesia.

AIM: This is to review the factors involved in administering local analgesia (LA) to children. REVIEW: This paper describes those aspects that a dentist can control and considers strategies to reduce injection discomfort. The main factors affecting successful use of LA in children are detailed. These include equipment factors, such as needles, syringes and cartridges and patient factors focussing on expectation of pain and anxiety of a child, area of the mouth to be injected, and the appropriate LA technique. In addition safety aspects of using LA in children are discussed. CONCLUSION: A number of factors that are under the influence of the dentist can affect the discomfort of LA. Knowledge of safe LA doses is important to ensure that toxic reactions do not occur.