Effect of Audio Analgesia on Behavior of Anxious Children Undergoing Tooth Extraction: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Background:Dental anxiety was described as a fear of the dentist and dental treatment, which is regarded as the major reason why patients of different ages avoid visiting the dental office. The literature describes the use of various behavior management techniques to reduce dental anxiety, including the Tell-Show-Do (TSD) and Audio analgesia techniques.Aim: To evaluate the effect of binaural beats and white noise on behavior of anxious children undergoing tooth extraction.Subjects and methods: Ninety children aged 6 to 8 years requiring tooth extraction were randomly assigned to either control group (managed by TSD technique) or two experimental groups (managed by Audio analgesia using binaural beats or white noise). Assessment of child's behavior was done at arrival of the children, during local anesthesia, and during extraction, using Frankl Behavior Rating Scale (FBRS). Children Anxiety was evaluated using Venham's picture test (VPT), prior and following dental extraction. Also, heart rate readings were carried out for all. children prior, during, and following the procedure. Results were collected and statistically analyzed.Results: Regarding behavior, compared to TSD group a statistically significant improvement in behavior of FBRS scores at different time frame, Monge white noise and Binaural beats groups. Regarding anxiety, significant reduction was found in heart rate measures among Binaural beats and white noise. The least reduction of anxiety level was observed in TSD group.Conclusion: Audio analgesia distraction can be regarded as a successful method to decrease anxiety among pediatric patients