Abstract
Introduction:Dental anxiety is common and causes symptomatic use of oral health services.Objectives:The aim was to study if a short-term virtual reality intervention reduced preoperative dental anxiety.Methods:A randomized controlled single-center trial was conducted with 2 parallel arms in a public oral health care unit: virtual reality relaxation (VRR) and treatment as usual (TAU). The VRR group received a 1- to 3.5-min 360° immersion video of a peaceful virtual landscape with audio features and sound supporting the experience. TAU groups remained seated for 3 min. Of the powered sample of 280 participants, 255 consented and had complete data. Total and secondary sex-specific mixed effects linear regression models were completed for posttest dental anxiety (Modified Dental Anxiety Scale [MDAS] total score) and its 2 factors (anticipatory and treatment-related dental anxiety) adjusted for baseline (pretest) MDAS total and factor scores and age, taking into account the effect of blocking.Results:Total and anticipatory dental anxiety decreased more in the VRR group than the TAU group (β = −0.75, P < .001, for MDAS total score; β = −0.43, P < .001, for anticipatory anxiety score) in patients of a primary dental care clinic. In women, dental anxiety decreased more in VRR than TAU for total MDAS score (β = −1.08, P < .001) and treatment-related dental anxiety (β = −0.597, P = .011). Anticipatory dental anxiety decreased more in VRR than TAU in both men (β = −0.217, P < .026) and women (β = −0.498, P < .001).Conclusion:Short application of VRR is both feasible and effective to reduce preoperative dental anxiety in public dental care settings (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03993080).Knowledge Transfer Statement:Dental anxiety, which is a common problem, can be reduced with short application of virtual reality relaxation applied preoperatively in the waiting room. Findings of this study indicate that it is a feasible and effective procedure to help patients with dental anxiety in normal public dental care settings.
Highlights
Dental anxiety is common and causes symptomatic use of oral health services
Findings of this study indicate that it is a feasible and effective procedure to help patients with dental anxiety in normal public dental care settings
A randomized controlled single-center trial was conducted with 2 parallel arms: virtual reality relaxation (VRR) and treatment as usual (TAU)
Summary
Dental anxiety is common and causes symptomatic use of oral health services. One-third of Finnish adults are anxious of dental treatment to some degree, women more often than men. The prevalence of dental anxiety has remained stable over the past 10 y (Lahti et al 2007; Liinavuori et al 2016). These statistics are similar in other countries (Hägglin et al 1999; Maggirias and Locker 2002; Thomson et al 2009; Armfield 2010; Hill et al 2013; Carlsson et al 2015). People with extreme dental anxiety are more likely to avoid or delay treatment (Pohjola et al 2007; Thomson et al 2010; Åstrøm et al 2011; Hakeberg and Wide Boman 2017; Liinavuori et al 2019), Finnish men more often than women (Liinavuori et al 2019).
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