A systematic review of the use of virtual reality or dental smartphone applications as interventions for management of paediatric dental anxiety

BMC Oral Health

Catherine Coyle¹  Andrea Cunningham¹  Orlagh McPolin¹  Gerald McKenna²  Richard Fallis³  Paul Best⁴ 

[1] Centre for Dentistry, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK;Centre for Public Health, Institute of Clinical Sciences Block B, Royal Victoria Hospital, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK;Queen’s University Belfast Medical Library, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK;School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK;

关键词: Virtual reality;    Paediatric dentistry;    Behavioural management;    Pain control;    Anxiolysis;    Prevention;    Autism spectrum disorder;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12903-021-01602-3

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundVirtual reality (VR) has been used successfully in medicine both as a distraction tool during procedures, and as an acclimatisation tool to prepare for a procedure or experience. It has not yet become widely used in dentistry, but could theoretically have a role in exposure-based acclimatisation for dental experiences.MethodsTo examine the use of VR or bespoke dental smartphone applications pre- or perioperatively in dentistry, to decrease anxiety in a paediatric population attending for dental examination or treatment, compared with children/adolescents who receive no intervention, or more conventional behavioural management techniques.Searches were made of eight electronic databases: the Cochrane Oral Health Group’s Trials Register, The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE(PubMed), EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Scopus and Web of Science. Further searches reference cross‐checks were performed to identify studies that were not discovered online.ResultsSystematic reviews and randomised control trials have demonstrated the successful use of VR to both distract patients perioperatively during medical procedures, and also preoperatively to prepare them for these interventions. However, to date, VR has only been applied to dentistry in a very limited number of studies. Three studies using virtual reality in a dental setting demonstrated decreased pain and anxiety compared with no intervention. All three of these studies were carried out in the perioperative period. A fourth study used a bespoke dental app and imagery to prepare patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) for dental treatment, finding statistically significant decreases in both the number of appointments and number of attempts required to carry out a procedure.ConclusionVR is a promising tool which to date has been under-utilised in dentistry. High quality, clinical studies are required to assess the use of preoperative VR and smartphone applications to prepare patients for dental examination and procedures under local or general anaesthetic.

【 授权许可】

CC BY