title: Analysis of physiological responses associated with emotional changes induced by viewing video images of dental treatments.
abstract: Since the understanding of emotional changes induced by dental treatments is important for dentists to provide a safe and comfortable dental treatment, we analyzed physiological responses during watching video images of dental treatments to search for the appropriate objective indices reflecting emotional changes. Fifteen healthy young adult subjects voluntarily participated in the present study. Electrocardiogram (ECG), electroencephalogram (EEG) and corrugator muscle electromyogram (EMG) were recorded and changes of them by viewing videos of dental treatments were analyzed. The subjective discomfort level was acquired by Visual Analog Scale method. Analyses of autonomic nervous activities from ECG and four emotional factors (anger/stress, joy/satisfaction, sadness/depression and relaxation) from EEG demonstrated that increases in sympathetic nervous activity reflecting stress increase and decreases in relaxation level were induced by the videos of infiltration anesthesia and cavity excavation, but not intraoral examination. The corrugator muscle activity was increased by all three images regardless of video contents. The subjective discomfort during watching infiltration anesthesia and cavity excavation was higher than intraoral examination, showing that sympathetic activities and relaxation factor of emotion changed in a manner consistent with subjective emotional changes. These results suggest that measurement of autonomic nervous activities estimated from ECG and emotional factors analyzed from EEG is useful for objective evaluation of subjective emotion.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Dentistry, Department of Oral Health Sciences, Division of Medical and Dental Sciences, Graduate school, Tokyo Medical and Dental University.
authors.forename: Taki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sekiya
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Dentistry, Department of Oral Health Sciences, Division of Medical and Dental Sciences, Graduate school, Tokyo Medical and Dental University.
authors.forename: Zenzo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Miwa
authors.affiliation: Basic Oral Health Science, Department of Fundamental Oral Health Engineering, Course for Oral Heath Engineering, School of Oral Health Care Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, Tokyo Medical and Dental University.
authors.forename: Natsumi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tsuchihashi
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Dentistry, Department of Oral Health Sciences, Division of Medical and Dental Sciences, Graduate school, Tokyo Medical and Dental University.
authors.forename: Naoko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Uehara
authors.affiliation: Basic Oral Health Science, Department of Fundamental Oral Health Engineering, Course for Oral Heath Engineering, School of Oral Health Care Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, Tokyo Medical and Dental University.
authors.forename: Kumiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugimoto
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003729:Dental Care / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D004576:Electromyography / Q000379:methods; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012063:Relaxation / Q000502:physiology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult