The effect of eye massage and nature sounds on children’s blood pressure during dental anesthesia as a parameter for dental anxiety: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Aim: Anxiety is one of the main problems encountered in pediatric dentistry that ‎directly affect children’s behavior and cooperation during dental procedures. Dental ‎anesthesia is known to be the most stressful inducing procedure for children. Anxiety ‎usually triggers the sympathetic systems leading to an increase in blood pressure and ‎pulse rate. Studies have shown the efficacy of massage intervention in reducing anxiety ‎by shifting the response from a sympathetic response to a parasympathetic one. Thus, ‎this study evaluates the effect of eye massage device and nature sounds on children’s ‎blood pressure during dental anesthesia.Materials and methods: 70 children aged between 8 and 10 ‎years whose dental treatment required an IANB injection participated in this ‎randomized controlled clinical trial. They were randomly divided into two groups: ‎Group A: eye massage with natural sounds, and Group B: (control group): traditional ‎behavior management techniques. Changes in children’s blood pressure was used as a ‎physiological scale and a biomarker for anxiety and was measured two times at rest and ‎after receiving dental injection using a digital blood pressure monitor.Results: diastolic ‎and systolic blood pressure significantly decreased in group A compared with the ‎control group (p < 0.05).Conclusion: Eye massage and natural sounds can effectively ‎reduce children’s blood pressure during dental anesthesia indicating a reduction in ‎anxiety, with the two interventions combined having the best relaxation effect on ‎children.‎