Freeman R, Hill K. Adult Dental Health Survey 2009: relationships between dental attendance patterns, oral health behaviour and the current barriers to dental care. Br Dent J. 2013; 214:25-32
Singh D, Samadi F. Stress reduction through audio distraction in anxious paediatric dental patients: an adjunctive clinical study. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent. 2014; 7:149-152
Hällström T, Halling A. Prevalence of dentistry phobia and its relation to missing teeth, alveolar bone loss and dental care habits in an urban community sample. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 1984; 70:438-446
Beaton L, Freeman R, Humphris G. Why are people afraid of the dentist? Observations and explanations. Med Princ Prac. 2014; 23:295-301
Melzack R, Sprague L, Weisz A. Strategies for controlling pain: contributions of auditory stimulation and suggestion. J Exp Neuro. 1963; 8:239-247
Navit S, Johri N, Khan SA Effectiveness and comparison of various audio distraction aids in management of anxious dental paediatric patients. J Clin Diagn Res. 2015; 9:ZC05-ZC09
Alanis J, Mejia C. Changes induced by music therapy to physiologic parameters in patients with dental anxiety. Complement Ther Clin Pract. 2015; 21:282-286
Thomas MV, Zemp M. Effects of music listening on pre-treatment anxiety and stress levels in dental hygiene recall patients. Int J Behav Med. 2015; 22:498-505
Erdal Y, Saziye O. Music decreases anxiety and provides sedation in extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy. J Clin Urol. 2003; 6:282-286
Kim SM, Kim YK, Myoung H. Musical intervention reduces patients' anxiety in surgical extraction of an impacted mandibular third molar. J Oral MaxillofacSurg. 2011; 69:1036-1045
Eitner S, Sokol B. Clinical use of a novel audio pillow with recorded hypnotherapy instructions and music for anxiolysis during dental implant surgery: a prospective study. Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2011; 59:180-197
Lai HL, Hwang MJ, Chen CJ. Randomised controlled trial of music on state anxiety and physiological indices in patients undergoing root canal treatment. Int J Clin Nurs. 2009; 17:2654-2660
Lahmaan C, Schoen R. Brief relaxation versus music distraction in the treatment of dental anxiety. J Am Dent Assoc. 2009; 139:317-324
Marwah N, Prabhakar AR. Music distraction – its efficacy in management of anxious paediatric dental patients. J Indian Soc Pedod Prev Dent. 2005; 23:168-170
Bare LC, Dundes L. Strategies for combatting dental anxiety. J Dent Educ. 2004; 68:1172-1177
Aitken JC, Wilson S. The effect of music distraction on pain, anxiety and behaviour in paediatric dental patients. Pediatr Dent. 2002; 24:114-118
Corah NL, Gale EN. Comparative study. Relaxation and musical programming as a means of reducing psychological stress during dental procedures. J Am Dent Assoc. 1981; 103:232-234
Gordon D, Heimburg RG, Tellez M, Ismail Al. A critical review of approaches to the treatment of dental anxiety in adults. J Anxiety Disord. 2013; 27:365-378
Kyriakoula M, Varouxi G. Blood pressure and heart rate alterations through music in patients undergoing cataract surgery in Greece. J Opthalmol Eye Dis. 2015; 7:7-12
Koch M, Kain Z. The sedative and analgesic sparing effect of music. J Am Soc Anaesthesiol. 1998; 8:300-306
Szmuk P, Aroyo N. Listening to music during Anaesthesia does not reduce the Sevoflurane concentration needed to maintain a constant bispectral index. Anesth Analg. 2008; 107:77-80
Danny W, Chan KW. Relaxation music decreases the dose of patient-controlled sedation during colonoscopy. J Gastrointest Endosc. 2002; 55:33-36
Bonny H. Music and healing. Music Ther. 1986; 6:3-12
Bringman H, Giesecke K. Relaxing music as pre-medication before surgery. Acta Anaesthesiol Scand. 2009; 53:759-764
Miyata K, Odanaka H, Nitta Y. Music before dental surgery suppresses Sympathetic Activity derived from Preoperative Anxiety: a Randomized Controlled Trial. JDR Clin Trans Res. 2016; 1:153-162
Newton T, Asimakopoulou K, Daly B, Scambler S, Scott S. The management of dental anxiety: time for a sense of proportion?. Br Dent J. 2012; 213:271-274
The dental surgery induces some degree of anxiety in many patients: 12% of the UK adult population who had visited a dentist were extremely dentally anxious. Such patients can be unco-operative and difficult to manage as they avoid dental visits and suffer a greater amount of dental disease. Furthermore, patients believe that their oral health has an impact on their quality of life. Sedation is an option to relieve anxiety, however this is associated with risks, including respiratory depression and over sedation. Erdal et al found that music was as effective as midazolam in terms of its sedative and anxiolytic properties during surgery.
CPD/Clinical Relevance: Music has demonstrated its usefulness in terms of calming anxious patients.
Article
Dental anxiety poses a major barrier for dental care.1 Anxiety can lead to avoidance of dental appointments which contributes to an increased incidence of dental disease.2,3 Dental anxiety can be described as fear of anything being carried out in the mouth on the teeth to the extent that any treatment may be delayed or avoided. This anxiety may stem from previous traumatic experiences or be in anticipation of pain or danger.4 According to the gate control theory of pain, certain stimuli that stimulate the nociceptors of the body can cause the brain to perceive the sensation as painful. Painful stimuli can threaten survival and so activate the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the ‘fight or flight’ response. In order to survive, the body must react to avoid the painful stimuli and so the sympathetic nervous system responds by creating a state of tachycardia, hypertension and tachypnea.5 These do not result directly from pain but are manifestations of the anxiety response, which is responsible for avoidance of the painful stimuli. Music can be used as a form of ‘distraction’. Placing focus and attention on a painful experience can heighten the intensity of pain sensation. Research has shown auditory inputs to be effective in distracting from the focus on pain and would therefore suggest a reduction in pain sensation and consequently anxiety about the situation.5 Research into the impact of certain distressing experiences on dental anxiety of 24 students showed that a local anaesthetic injection was rated as one of the most feared experiences.4 This may be due to the pain sensation associated with the administration of Local Anaesthesia.
Register now to continue reading
Thank you for visiting Dental Update and reading some of our resources. To read more, please register today. You’ll enjoy the following great benefits:
