Pain Assessment for Children in Dental Setting

1. Pain assessment poses to be an essential entity for a pediatric dentist as unrelieved pain is directly associated with uncooperative behaviour of children which makes it challenging to provide quality treatment. Pain assessment tools are broadly categorized into self-report pain assessment tools, behavioural pain assessment tools and physiological measures.Self-reporting pain assessment tools are considered gold standard for assessment of pain. Out of all the scales discussed, Wong-Bakers Facial Pain Rating Scale is considered the best as it is simple to use for the operator and can be easily reproduced. It has also been successfully used in children as young as 3 years of age as they find it easy to comprehend to the emotions portrayed by the images.Behaviour pain assessment are useful in non-verbal patients and cognitively impaired patients. The most widely accepted behavioural pain assessment tool is Face Legs Activity Cry and Consolability (FLACC) due to its simple nature and its ability to provide adequate pain measurement in patients with cognitive impairment.