Effect of audiovisual distraction on children’s behaviour, anxiety and pain in the dental setting

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ABSTRACT

Aim

To evaluate whether the parental perception of the patient's anxiety, children's anxiety, pain, behaviour and heart rate
of paediatric patients improves when an audiovisual technique is used as a distraction method during dental treatment. MATERIALS
AND

Methods

This non-randomised crossover trial was performed with 34 patients aged 6-8 years, who required a minimum of two
treatment visits for restorative therapy. During the last visit, the patient was shown a cartoon film.

Results

There was a significant
improvement in the global behaviour when children were shown a cartoon film (P < 0.001). A significant increase in heart rate was recorded in both visits (P = 0.0001) when the anaesthetic was injected. A 97 of the sample would like to continue seeing their chosen film during subsequent visits. No statistically significant differences were found (P >> 0.05) between the visits in terms of
parental perception of the patient's anxiety, or the patient's self-reported anxiety, pain and heart rate. CONCLUSIONS: The use of the
audiovisual material used as a method of distraction produces a global improvement in patient behaviour, but not in parental perception
of the patient's anxiety, self-reported anxiety, pain or heart rate according to the measurement scales used. This material is also highly
accepted by paediatric patients.

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