Clinical Use of Virtual Reality Distraction System to Reduce Anxiety and Pain in Dental Procedures

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) has been used by clinicians to manage pain in clinical populations. This study examines the use of VR as a form of distraction for dental patients using both subjective and objective measures to determine how a VR system affects patients' reported anxiety level, pain level, and physiological factors. As predicted, results of self-evaluation questionnaires showed that patients experienced less anxiety and pain after undergoing VR treatment. Physiological data reported similar trends in decreased anxiety. Overall, the favorable subjective and objective responses suggest that VR distraction systems can reduce discomfort and pain for patients with mild to moderate fear and anxiety.

RETRACTED: Use of Virtual Reality for the Management of Anxiety and Pain in Dental Treatments: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…The benefits of using VR for the reduction of dental anxiety (DA) and pain (P) levels during dental procedures has been extensively addressed in scientific literature [5][6][7][8][9], and its usefulness as a distraction tool is receiving increasing attention in medical contexts [9]. During aversive experiences, VR can improve pain management [10] and reduce the perceived duration of the procedure [11].…”

Assessment of Efficacy of Virtual Reality Distraction in Reducing Pain Perception and Anxiety in Children Aged 6–10 Years: A Behavioral Interventional Study

“…The validity and reliability of the scales (WBFPS and FLACC) used in the present study was previously evaluated by many studies. [8][9][10] The result of the present study was in accordance to Shetty et al, 11 Chaturvedi et al, 12 Asl Aminabadi et al, 8 Wiederhold et al 13 and Sullivan et al, 14 where both the pain perception and anxiety were reduced. As both the pain perception and anxiety increase if the child focusses on the procedure or sight of instruments in dentistry; the child was taken into a different environment by applying VRD which is devoid of the operator's field and its sounds.…”

Virtual Reality Check: Are You Ready?

“…VR is a noninvasive therapy that can be tailored to older populations. Some exemplars relevant to older patients include use as an adjuvant pain management strategy (Garrett et al, 2014) as well as aid to manage symptoms of anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder (Beidel et al, 2017;Wiederhold, Gao, & Wiederhold, 2014). VR provides nurses with an intervention that could theoretically decrease patients' medication use and their risk of delirium.…”