title: Brief relaxation versus music distraction in the treatment of dental anxiety: a randomized controlled clinical trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Dental anxiety is a significant cause of poor dental health. Because patients often prefer nonpharmacological interventions, the clinical effectiveness of clearly structured approaches is of particular interest.
  
  
  METHODS
  This prospective randomized controlled study compares a brief relaxation method (BR) with music distraction (MD) and with a control group (C). The authors randomly assigned 90 patients with dental anxiety to BR, MD or C groups. They assessed the outcomes by means of the state anxiety subscale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both BR and MD reduced dental anxiety significantly. In contrast, patients in the C group did not exhibit a significant change in their anxiety level. BR was significantly superior to MD. Stratification according to the patient's general level of dental anxiety revealed that BR also was particularly effective in highly anxious subjects, whereas MD did not have a clinically relevant effect on these subjects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  BR appears to be a safe, economically sound and effective nonpharmacological approach to the short-term reduction of dental anxiety. Additional investigations are needed to validate these findings in a larger clinical trial and to determine the long-term effects of this intervention.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Relaxation techniques are a pragmatic, effective and cost-saving method of facilitating dental treatment in anxious patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine Psychotherapy, Technical University Muchich, Germany. lahmann@tum.de
authors.forename: Claas
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lahmann
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schoen
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Henningsen
authors.forename: Joram
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ronel
authors.forename: Moritz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Muehlbacher
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Loew
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tritt
authors.forename: Marius
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nickel
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Doering
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016854:Dental Anxiety / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008347:Manifest Anxiety Scale; D009147:Music Therapy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012064:Relaxation Therapy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires