This review of the efficacy of aromatherapy on dental anxiety included 17 studies (11 RCTs, 6 CCTs). The evidence suggets aromatherapy may reduce dental anxiety and has comparable effects on dental anxiety compared to music intervention but the evidence is limited and of low to very low certainty
[read the full story...]
This review evaluating the effect of vibration devices on paediatric dental injection pain reduction identified 6 RCTs. The findings suggest that the use of the DentalVibe was not effective but the evidence ws of low quality.
[read the full story...]
This review of the global prevalence of dental anxiety in children and adolescents included 50 studies reported in 57 papers. The findings showed that dental anxiety is a frequent problem in 3‐ to 18‐year‐olds worldwide being commoner in schoolchildren and preschool children than in adolescents.
[read the full story...]
Twenty six RCTs were included in this Cochrane systematic review of methods for the acceptance of local anaesthesia (LA) in children and adolescents during dental treatment. However the trials did not provide sufficient evidence to draw firm conclusions as to the best interventions
[read the full story...]
This review of the evidence on the relationship of oral health beliefs with dental fear and anxiety included 10 studies and suggests that patients with negative health beliefs are more likely to suffer with dental fear and anxiety.
[read the full story...]
This review assessing whether distraction techniques reduce children’s/adolescent’s anxiety and fear during dental treatment included 20 RCTs providing very low certainty evidence that these techniques have a positive effect.
[read the full story...]
This Cochrane review update of the efficacy and relative efficacy of conscious sedation agents and dosages for behaviour management in paediatric dentistry includes 50RCTs providing some moderate-certainty evidence that oral midazolam is an effective sedative agent for children undergoing dental treatment.
[read the full story...]
Popular Dental Elf blogs in May-Jun 2018 include; tooth whitening; oral surgery and anticoagulants, anxiety management in children using CBT and oral lichen planus
[read the full story...]
This review of the effectiveness of audiovisual distraction for reducing dental anxiety in children included 9 trials 6 of which were randomised. The findings suggested that audiovisual distraction was helpful in reducing dental anxiety although all the trials were considered to be at high risk of bias.
[read the full story...]
This review of cognitive behavioural therapy(CBT) for dental anxiety and dental phobia in children identified 6 RCTs suggesting it therapy produces better anxiety reduction than diverse behavioural management techniques. However the available evidence is of low quality.
[read the full story...]