Childrens' Experiences of Pain in Conjunction With Tooth Extraction - a Grounded Theory Study

BACKGROUND: Pain in conjunction with dental treatment should be avoided as much as possible, when treating children. Many dental procedures may result in procedural and/or postoperative pain. There is a well-documented relationship between perceived pain during/after dental treatment, and the development of dental fear and anxiety. This may lead to suffering for the patient and accelerating treatment-costs for society. Despite this, research on children and pain is scarce. Systematic review shows a lack of studies on oral analgesics and their possibility to reduce/prevent pain. There is a need for randomized clinical trials regarding different treatments and effect of analgesics. However, before such research can be undertaken, one important piece is missing; an understanding on how children and adolescents perceive dental treatment and the possible pain afterwards. The aim of this study is to elucidate how children perceive dental treatment and pain after tooth extractions.

METHODS: This is a qualitative study using Grounded Theory (GT). Children aged 10-15 years, who needs teeth extracted prior orthodontic treatment, will be consecutively enrolled if the legal guardians signs the informed consent-form and the child assents to participate. Tooth extractions will then be performed by another dentist than the one doing the interviews with the children. A treatment protocol, in accordance with today standardized practice, for the extractions will be followed. No extra dental treatment is performed, rather this is a part of the whole treatment plan for orthodontic treatment. In-depth interview will be performed with the children 1-2 weeks after tooth extraction, at a place convenient for the child/family. If the participant wishes to, they can be accompanied by their legal guardian during the interview. The questions will focus on their experiences of the tooth extraction, perceived pain, pain management, coping strategies, and previous experiences of pain and how they handled it then. Each interview is calculated to take approximately one hour. In Grounded Theory no sample size calculation is applicable. Participants will be included until saturation in data is reached, i.e. no new information can be obtained. In GT this is often achieved after 10-15 interviews, but when it involves children it is not unlikely that the number of participants will be closer to 20, since there is a risk of the interviews not being so "rich". All interviews will be tape recorded, and without further delay, the interviews will be transcribed. Data analyses and data collection will be done parallel with each other. The transcribed interviews will be analyzed, where codes will be identified. These codes will then merge into different preliminary categories. In the following axial coding process, each category will be further developed by identifying dimensions and characteristics (sub-categories). Relations between data and categories is sought for, and hereby a new whole is created. Selective coding will lead to data saturation and validation. Saturation can also be achieved by already retrieved data being re-coded.

KNOWLEDGE GAINS: GT is a theory generating method. This is especially suitable for research areas where theories are scarce or completely lacking. A lot of research within the medical and dental field today, takes the perspective of the investigator, and far too seldom is those directly affected (i.e. the patient), involved. From an ethical point of view, it is important to include children and adolescents if the research is targeting this group. If knowledge about how children and adolescents perceive pain is gained, this will be an important piece in assembling the puzzle of research strategies related to pain.