Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The pain-controlling effects of a recently introduced electronic dental anesthesia device (CEDETA) were compared with those of local anesthesia in this study. Procedures performed involved full-coverage stainless steel crowns on maxillary primary molars, some of which required indirect pulp therapy and pulpotomies. A total of 55 children, aged 6 years to 10 1/2 years, were randomly selected to have treatment done with CEDETA or local anesthetic. Eight of these patients were treated with both CEDETA and local anesthetic at different appointments. At various times during each procedure, the patient and operator rated the patient's level of discomfort using a 6-point Visual Analog Scale. For each of the five evaluation steps, no significant differences existed in discomfort ratings between the CEDETA and local anesthetic methods for the group of eight patients or for the entire group. Operator ratings of patient discomfort did not vary significantly between the two methods of anesthesia for each of the evaluation steps, except at the step of maximum output or after injection, when the CEDETA group as a whole had significantly lower operator-rated pain. In general, patients tended to rate their perceptions of pain higher than those of the operator. Although the operator and patients in this study found CEDETA to be as effective as local anesthetic for controlling dental operative pain, a number of factors must be considered when deciding to use this type of electronic dental anesthesia. A substantial monetary investment is required to purchase the CEDETA device and the disposable electrodes and batteries to power the unit. There is an increased operating expense for each procedure done when using CEDETA, because of the additional time needed for the operator, staff, and patients to become familiar with the use of the device. Additional setup and break-down time is also needed when using CEDETA as opposed to local anesthetic.