Abstract
Anxiety and distress can jeopardize dental care experience of patients and may affect the clinical result. Although a wide range of sedation and analgesia techniques are currently available to relieve distress and pain during dental procedures, operative models to choose the most effective sedation-analgesic strategies are still insufficient. This case series proposes a patient-centered model to optimize patients’ cooperation during dental care delivery. We describe how to achieve correct anaesthesia by using the least sedative procedure, accounting for the dental procedure needed and patient’s psychological profile. Five patients were considered as paradigmatic to show the balance between patients’ subjective experiences and the clinical procedures: a patient with low stress, good compliance (case 1); a patient with moderate stress and reduction in compliance (case 2); anxious patient (case 3); a patient with acute anxiety and emotional distress (case 4); anguished patient (case 5). A multimodal treatment of emotional and behavioural condition and a patient-centered model approach contributed to achieve the best patient satisfaction in the five cases detailed here.
Highlights
An increasing number of patients are undergoing day-case dental procedures or surgeries, and in some cases they may experience significant emotional upset from either consultation or dental therapy
Dental fear is a reaction to a known perceived danger which involves a flight-or-fight response when provoked with the frightening stimulus, while dental phobia is an extreme, marked, and persistent fear of clearly visible defined objects or situations
This case series describes five scenarios that frequently occur in clinical practice, with the evident limit of showing only few of the main typology of distress and pain management during dental procedures
Summary
An increasing number of patients are undergoing day-case dental procedures or surgeries, and in some cases they may experience significant emotional upset from either consultation or dental therapy. The term Dental Anxiety (DA) includes anxiety, fear and phobia which are used interchangeably[2]. There are several methods available for dentist to score patients dental anxiety for example the Modified Child Dental Anxiety Scale (MCDAS)[3]. Add the following: Definition and assessment of dental anxiety The term Dental Anxiety (DA) includes anxiety, fear and phobia which are used interchangeably (McDonnell-Boudra et al 2014). Dental fear is a reaction to a known perceived danger which involves a flight-or-fight response when provoked with the frightening stimulus, while dental phobia is an extreme, marked, and persistent fear of clearly visible defined objects or situations. There are several methods available for dentist to score patients dental anxiety for example the Modified Child Dental Anxiety Scale (MCDAS) (Wong et al 1998)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
