Title

Virtual reality for pain and anxiety during dental anaesthesia: A randomized trial

Authors

P. Sri Sai Srinivas*, L. Vamsi Krishna Reddy, P. Siva Kumar, Pottem Nagarjuna, Pichika Swathi & A. S. Praharsh

Affiliation

Department of Public Health Dentistry, Anil Neerukonda Institute of Dental Sciences, Visakhapatnam - 531162 Andhra Pradesh, India; *Corresponding author

Email

P. Sri Sai Srinivas - E-mail: ssssonu1011@gmail.com
L. Vamsi Krishna Reddy - E-mail: drvamsired@gmail.com
P. Siva Kumar - E-mail: shiva.mds@hotmail.com
Pottem Nagarjuna - E-mail: pottemnagarjuna45@gmail.com
Pichika Swathi - E-mail: pichika.swathi@gmail.com
A. S. Praharsh - E-mail: aspraharsh@gmail.com

Article Type

Research Article

Date

Received September 1, 2026; Revised September 30, 2026; Accepted September 30, 2026, Published September 30, 2026

Abstract

Local anaesthesia injection is a major source of dental pain and anxiety among adolescents. Therefore, it is of interest to evaluate the effectiveness of immersive virtual reality (VR) distraction during local anaesthesia administration in 50 first-time dental patients aged 12-19 years. Participants were randomized to VR or conventional care, with heart rate, anxiety and pain assessed using standard clinical measures. The VR group showed significantly lower heart rate, pain and anxiety scores than the control group (all p < 0.001). Thus, immersive VR is an effective, safe and low-cost adjunct for reducing pain and anxiety during local anaesthesia in adolescent dental patients.

Keywords

Adolescents, anxiety, distraction, local anaesthesia (LA), pain, virtual reality (VR)

Citation

Srinivas et al. Bioinformation 22(9): 5832-5836 (2026)

Edited by

Ruby Singh

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.