Children’s better control methods within the pediatric dentistry  focus on avoiding unpleasant behaviors, creating a trusting environment that can  facilitate the dental treatment, and developing positive attitudes towards future dental care. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of using 3D audio-visual glasses and  headphones as a distraction technique to reduce pain and anxiety of children during dental injection.

This study included 30 healthy children aged 4-10 years. Audio, audio-visual and conventional behavior management strategies were used for each child who needed three dental treatments with infiltration anesthesia injection in the posterior region of maxilla. The subjects’ pain severity was assessed using FLACC Scale and anxiety state was measured by Facial Image Scale.

There was a significant decrease in pain perception (P < 0.001) and anxiety state scores (P < 0.001) with the use of 3D audio-visual glasses compared to the use of headphones and control group.

It was concluded that audiovisual distraction technique was more  effective than audio distraction technique in reducing pain and anxiety of dental  anesthesia injection.