Reliability of Three Pain Assessment Tools in Children Requiring Dental Treatment: A Comparative Clinical Study

ABSTRACT Background: Accurate pain assessment in pediatric dental patients is crucial for effective pain management and treatment planning. Materials and Methods: A total of 120 children aged 6-12 years, requiring dental treatment, were enrolled in this study. Each child was assessed using the three pain scales after undergoing a standardized dental procedure. The assessments were performed by two independent evaluators to determine inter-rater reliability. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to evaluate the reliability of each tool. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and repeated measures ANOVA to compare the mean pain scores across the three scales. Results: The mean pain scores reported were 4.3 ± 1.2 for the VAS, 4.5 ± 1.4 for the FPS-R, and 4.2 ± 1.3 for the WBFPRS. The ICC values for inter-rater reliability were 0.88 for the VAS, 0.86 for the FPS-R, and 0.90 for the WBFPRS, indicating high reliability for all tools. However, the WBFPRS showed slightly higher reliability compared to the other scales. No significant differences were found in pain scores across the three tools (P = 0.72). Conclusion: All three pain assessment tools demonstrated high reliability in assessing pain in pediatric dental patients. The Wong-Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale showed the highest inter-rater reliability, suggesting it may be the most reliable tool for clinical use in this population. Keywords: Children, dental treatment, faces pain scale-revised, pain assessment, reliability, visual analog Scale, Wong-Baker Faces pain rating scale