Comparative Study of Effects of LASER, TENS, and Anesthetic Gel for Controlling Pain after Placement of Elastomeric Separators: A Clinical Trial

AIM: This study aimed to study the intensity and duration of patients’ pain perception after placement of elastomeric separators and the effects of various methods to reduce the pain. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Elastomeric separators were placed on either side of first molars in 120 patients which were divided into 4 groups. Patients in group I were control group, group II underwent low-level LASER therapy, group III were subjected to topical anesthetic gel, and group IV underwent TENS (transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation). And then they were asked to measure pain using a visual analog scale (VAS) at 5 intervals of time, i.e., immediately after separator placement, after day 1, day 2, day 3, and day 4. RESULTS: Turkey's post hoc test showed that pain score after immediate placement of separators was found to be the least in the anesthetic gel than that in other groups and pain score was least in the LASER group out of all four groups on day 1, 2, 3, and 4. CONCLUSION: It was found that low-level LASER therapy was more effective in reducing pain after placement of elastomeric separators. HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Oza MJ, Desai H, Iyengar SS, et al. Comparative Study of Effects of LASER, TENS, and Anesthetic Gel for Controlling Pain after Placement of Elastomeric Separators: A Clinical Trial. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2020;13(S-1):S82–S86.