Original Article

Year : 2021 | Volume : 6 | Issue : 1 | Page : 20-24

Evaluation of Pain in Children Using Animated Emoji Scale: A Novel Self‐Reporting Pain Assessment Tool

Amit Khatri, Namita Kalra, Rishi Tyagi, Mayank Sharma, Padma Yangdol, Neetu Garg

Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, University College of Medical Sciences, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital (University of Delhi), Delhi, India

Address for correspondence:

Dr. Amit Khatri,

Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, University College of Medical Sciences, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital (University of Delhi), Delhi ‐ 110 095, India.

E‐mail: khatri9804@rediffmail.com

Abstract

Background:

Pain perception of children in dental clinics is difficult to assess. Conventionally, visual analog scale (VAS) and Wong–Baker Faces Pain Scale (WBFPS) are used asself‐reporting pain assessment toolsin children. Novel animated emojiscale (AES) isrecently introduced for pain assessment in pediatric patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the pain using the novel AES in 3–14‐year‐old children and to compare it with frequently used VAS and WBFPS.

Methods:

A cross‐sectional study recruited 266 patients in the 3–14‐year age group with their first dental visit. Participants were divided into three groups on the basis of age: Group I–3–6 years, Group II–7–10 years, and Group III–11–14 years, and the pain wasrecorded using self‐reporting tools, i.e., VAS,WBFPS, and recently introducedAES after the completion of dental procedure. Data were evaluated using the Pearson correlation test and Chi‐square test.

Results:

A strong positive correlation among VAS, WBFPS, and AES in all the groups was observed (P < 0.05). AES was preferred more over VAS and WBFPS in all the groups for pain assessment (P < 0.001).

Conclusions:

AES as a self‐reporting tool can be used frequently to assess the pain in children. AES was preferred over VAS and WBFPS due to its ease of understanding by children.

Keywords: Animated emoji scale, first dental visit, self‐reporting tool, visual analog scale

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

How to cite this article: Khatri A, Kalra N, Tyagi R, Sharma M, Yangdol P, Garg N. Evaluation of pain in children using animated emoji scale: A novel self‐reporting pain assessment tool. Int J Pedod Rehabil 2021;6:20-4.