Materials and Methods: A total of 400 south Indian children in the age group of 6-12 years who had visited Dental College and Hospital were recruited in the study. Dental anxiety was measured before dental treatment using MDAS. Statistical analysis was performed using Wilcoxon signed rank test.

Results: Of the 400 children, 240 (61.5%) had severe dental anxiety, 92 (23%) had mild anxiety, and 78 (17%) had no anxiety. Females had higher anxiety level compared to males. Many study subjects answered that local anesthesia (LA) injection was considered most fearful. Dental anxiety was highest in smaller age groups.

Methods: An experimental study was conducted in our Physics Laboratory during September 2015. A series of syringes sized 1 mL, 3 mL, 5 mL, 10 mL and 20 mL were paired with the original needles, 27G, 27G spinal and 30G. Each combination was tested three times using a compression testing Instron 5940 Series to measure initial and maintenance forces. Statistical analysis was performed using One-way ANOVA.

Results: The lowest initial force was shown by the combination of 1 mL syringe and 27G spinal needle. However, the 1 mL syringe showed no significant difference across the needles [F(3, 8) = 3.545; P < 0.068]. The original and 27G needle showed mean difference 0.28 (95%CI: -0.19, 0.75; P = 0.420). The lowest maintenance force was measured in the combination of 1 mL syringe and its original 26G needle. On the contrary, both the highest initial and maintenance forces were shown by the combination of 10 mL syringe and 30G needle.