Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Anesthesia Progress logoLink to Anesthesia Progress
. 1998 Winter;45(1):29–37.

Acute pain and use of local anesthesia: tooth drilling and childbirth labor pain beliefs among Anglo-Americans, Chinese, and Scandinavians.

R Moore 1, I Brødsgaard 1, T K Mao 1, M L Miller 1, S F Dworkin 1
PMCID: PMC2148948  PMID: 9790007

Abstract

Differences in ethnic beliefs about the perceived need for local anesthesia for tooth drilling and childbirth labor were surveyed among Anglo-Americans, Mandarin Chinese, and Scandinavians (89 dentists and 251 patients) matched for age, gender, and occupation. Subjects matched survey questionnaire items selected from previously reported interview results to estimate (a) their beliefs about the possible use of anesthetic for tooth drilling and labor pain compared with other possible remedies and (b) the choice of pain descriptors associated with the use of nonuse of anesthetic, including descriptions of injection pain. Multidimensional scaling, Gamma, and Chi-square statistics as well as odds ratios and Spearman's correlations were employed in the analysis. Seventy-seven percent of American informants reported the use of anesthetics as possible remedies for drilling and 51% reported the use of anesthetics for labor pain compared with 34% that reported the use of anesthetics among Chinese for drilling and 5% for labor pain and 70% among Scandinavians for drilling and 35% for labor pain. Most Americans and Swedes described tooth-drilling sensations as sharp, most Chinese used descriptors such as sharp and "sourish" (suan), and most Danes used words like shooting (jagende). By rank, Americans described labor pain as cramping, sharp, and excruciating, Chinese used words like sharp, intermittent, and horrible, Danes used words like shooting, tiring, and sharp, and Swedes used words like tiring, "good," yet horrible. Preferred pain descriptors for drilling, birth, and injection pains varied significantly by ethnicity. Results corroborated conclusions of a qualitative study about pain beliefs in relation to perceived needs for anesthetic in tooth drilling. Samples used to obtain the results were estimated to approach qualitative representativity for these urban ethnic groups.

Full text

PDF
29

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Brownridge P. Treatment options for the relief of pain during childbirth. Drugs. 1991 Jan;41(1):69–80. doi: 10.2165/00003495-199141010-00007. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Melzack R. Labour pain as a model of acute pain. Pain. 1993 May;53(2):117–120. doi: 10.1016/0304-3959(93)90071-V. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Moore R. A., Dworkin S. F. Ethnographic methodologic assessment of pain perceptions by verbal description. Pain. 1988 Aug;34(2):195–204. doi: 10.1016/0304-3959(88)90166-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Moore R., Brødsgaard I., Mao T. K., Kwan H. W., Shiau Y. Y., Knudsen R. Fear of injections and report of negative dentist behavior among Caucasian American and Taiwanese adults from dental school clinics. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. 1996 Aug;24(4):292–295. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0528.1996.tb00862.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Moore R., Brødsgaard I., Mao T. K., Miller M. L., Dworkin S. F. Perceived need for local anesthesia in tooth drilling among Anglo-Americans, Chinese, and Scandinavians. Anesth Prog. 1998 Winter;45(1):22–28. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Moore R., Brødsgaard I., Miller M. L., Mao T. K., Dworkin S. F. Consensus analysis: reliability, validity, and informant accuracy in use of American and Mandarin Chinese pain descriptors. Ann Behav Med. 1997 Summer;19(3):295–300. doi: 10.1007/BF02892294. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Moore R. Combining qualitative and quantitative research approaches in understanding pain. J Dent Educ. 1996 Aug;60(8):709–715. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Moore R. Ethnographic assessment of pain coping perceptions. Psychosom Med. 1990 Mar-Apr;52(2):171–181. doi: 10.1097/00006842-199003000-00005. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Moore R., Miller M. L., Weinstein P., Dworkin S. F., Liou H. H. Cultural perceptions of pain and pain coping among patients and dentists. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. 1986 Dec;14(6):327–333. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0528.1986.tb01084.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Wirth D. P. The significance of belief and expectancy within the spiritual healing encounter. Soc Sci Med. 1995 Jul;41(2):249–260. doi: 10.1016/0277-9536(94)00312-h. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Anesthesia Progress are provided here courtesy of American Dental Society of Anesthesiology

RESOURCES