title: A joint approach to treating dental phobia: a re-evaluation of a collaboration between community dental services and specialist psychotherapy services ten years on.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To audit the records of a group of patients who had previously benefited from cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for dental phobia.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To ascertain if they had returned to the use of intravenous (IV) sedation to facilitate dental treatment. Ten years ago these patients were routinely requiring IV sedation to facilitate dental treatment due to severe dental phobia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty patients entered the original pilot project. Of those, 30 were offered CBT and 21 attended. Twenty of those patients (95.2%) were subsequently able to have dental treatment without IV sedation. In this follow-up study the electronic records of 19 of the 20 patients who had originally been successful with CBT were re-audited. Our purpose was to see if there was any record of subsequent IV sedation administration in the intervening ten years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 19 successful CBT patients available to follow-up, 100% had not received IV sedation since the study ten years ago. This may suggest the initial benefit of CBT has endured over the ten-year period.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study indicates that the use of CBT for patients with dental phobia proves beneficial not only in the initial treatment but that the benefits may endure over time. This results in a significant reduction in health risks to the patient from repeated IV sedation. It may also translate into significant financial savings for dental care providers. Our evidence for CBT as treatment for dental phobia suggests dental services should be implementing this approach now rather than pursuing further research.
authors.affiliation: Sheffield Health and Social Care Foundation Trust, UK. john.davies@shsc.nhs.uk
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.forename: K I
authors.initials: KI
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Clements
mesh_terms: D018686:Anesthetics, Intravenous / Q000008:administration & dosage; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003149:Community Dentistry; D003153:Community Health Services; D016292:Procedural Sedation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016854:Dental Anxiety / Q000628:therapy*; D019230:Dental Audit; D003729:Dental Care / Q000523:psychology; D003796:Dental Service, Hospital; D057286:Electronic Health Records; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D011613:Psychotherapy
chemical_list: D018686:Anesthetics, Intravenous