Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of brainwave entrainment on pre-operative fear and anxiety in pediatric dental patients.
Methods
The study protocol received approval from the Institutional Ethical Committee under reference number 3010/IEC/2021. Pediatric patients (252) aged from 7 to 12 years, who reported to the dental department were randomized pre-operatively and presented either with brainwave entrainment (experimental), delivered using a “David delight plus device” or a standard behavior management protocol (control). Baseline and post-assessment of anxiety and fear levels were done using the Visual Facial Anxiety Scale and Frankl’s behavior rating scale with Wright’s modification. Vitals such as blood pressure and pulse rate were also measured.
Results
The study sample (n = 252) comprised 118 females and 134 males. The non-significant differences for values of (VFAS1, FRS1, HR1, and BP1) indicated similar baseline characteristics. In the brainwave entrainment group, the p values of the Mann–Whitney U test and Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test (p < 0.01) between the two-timepoints indicated a statistical difference for the values of (VFAS1, FBRS1, HR1, BP1) and (VFAS2, FBRS2, HR2, BP2).
Conclusions
Brainwave entrainment effectively reduces pre-operative fear and anxiety in pediatric dental patients. Therefore, they can be a non-pharmacological and non-invasive behavior management aid.
Trial Registration
Clinical Trial Registry of India database CTRI/2023/03/051066.
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Data availability
The data used and/or analyzed during the current study available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Contributions
Farah Shehani: conceptualization; data curation; funding acquisition; investigation; writing—original draft. Victor Samuel: conceptualization; resources; visualizations; writing—review and editing. Kavitha R: formal analysis; validation; writing review and editing. Rekha Mani: validation; writing review and editing.
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Institutional Ethical Committee under reference number 3010/IEC/2021.
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Verbal assent was obtained from the children also written consent was obtained from all of the parents on behalf of their children included in this study.
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A written consent was obtained from all of the parents on behalf of their children included in this study.
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Written consent was obtained from parents and verbal assent from children.
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Shehani, F., Samuel, V., Kavitha, R. et al. Effectiveness of brainwave entrainment on pre-operative fear and anxiety in pediatric dental patients: a randomized controlled trial. Eur Arch Paediatr Dent (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40368-024-00921-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40368-024-00921-7