Brief relaxation versus music distraction in the treatment of dental anxiety: a randomized controlled clinical trial.

Full Abstract

BACKGROUND:
Dental anxiety is a significant cause of poor dental health. Because patients often prefer nonpharmacological interventions, the clinical effectiveness of clearly structured approaches is of particular interest.

METHODS:
This prospective randomized controlled study compares a brief relaxation method (BR) with music distraction (MD) and with a control group (C). The authors randomly assigned 90 patients with dental anxiety to BR, MD or C groups. They assessed the outcomes by means of the state anxiety subscale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory.

RESULTS:
Both BR and MD reduced dental anxiety significantly. In contrast, patients in the C group did not exhibit a significant change in their anxiety level. BR was significantly superior to MD. Stratification according to the patient's general level of dental anxiety revealed that BR also was particularly effective in highly anxious subjects, whereas MD did not have a clinically relevant effect on these subjects.

CONCLUSIONS:
BR appears to be a safe, economically sound and effective nonpharmacological approach to the short-term reduction of dental anxiety. Additional investigations are needed to validate these findings in a larger clinical trial and to determine the long-term effects of this intervention.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS:
Relaxation techniques are a pragmatic, effective and cost-saving method of facilitating dental treatment in anxious patients.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Lahmann, Claas (C); Schoen, Rainer (R); Henningsen, Peter (P); Ronel, Joram (J); Muehlbacher, Moritz (M); Loew, Thomas (T); Tritt, Karin (K); Nickel, Marius (M); Doering, Stephan (S);

Affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine Psychotherapy, Technical University Muchich, Germany. lahmann(-atsign-)tum.de

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Randomized Controlled Trial

Journal: Journal of the American Dental Association (1939) (J Am Dent Assoc), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Mar; vol 139 (issue 3) : pp 317-24

Dates: Created 2008/03/03; Completed 2008/05/28;

PMID: 18310736, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult
Dental Anxiety - prevention & control
Female
Humans
Male

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

See 100+ related articles.