Dog-Assisted Therapy and Dental Anxiety: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Simple SummaryThe participation of animals, specifically dogs, in therapeutic activities has been demonstrated to improve individuals’ physical and mental health. However, few investigations have been carried out in the area of dentistry. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of dog-assisted therapy for individuals with a history of anxiety related to dental visits. During preventative dental procedures (cleaning), a therapy dog accompanied the participant. After this intervention, people reported lower perceived discomfort at dental visits. The participation of therapy dogs in this area of health could help improve people’s experiences in dental offices.AbstractAnimal-assisted therapy aimed at improving individuals’ mental or physical health has been widely reported. However, the data on how a therapy dog could help control anxiety during dental procedures is scarce. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of dog-assisted therapy on people with a history of dental anxiety while receiving preventive dental treatment. Twelve adults participated (women: n = 11 (91.7%) and men: n = 1 (8.3%), mean age = 31.25 years, D.E. = 5.78). The Corah Dental Anxiety Scale was applied, the patient’s mood was assessed with a Likert scale before and after receiving the dental treatment, and their blood pressure was recorded for each of the three stages of treatment. A therapy dog accompanied the participants during the dental procedure. The main results indicated that a decrease in discomfort was perceived during the intervention, and there was also an improvement in the patient’s evaluation of the experience. The results are based on the decrease in patients’ blood pressure when taken in the middle of the dental treatment.

The Research of Standardized Protocols for Dog Involvement in Animal-Assisted Therapy: A Systematic Review

“…The ages of the dogs ranged between 18 months and 13 years. Eight studies worked with dogs ranging from 1 to 5 years of age [ 41 , 43 , 44 , 50 , 55 , 57 , 59 , 61 , 66 ], and three studies worked with dogs 5 years or older [ 53 , 58 , 76 ]. Two studies, on the other hand, involved dogs with a wider age range (from 2 to 10 years [ 63 ], and 4, 6, and 8 years [ 65 ]).…”

“…The remaining 20 articles did not indicate the dog’s age. Six studies included dogs of both sexes [ 39 , 47 , 55 , 59 , 61 , 65 ]. In two studies, all dogs were male [ 44 , 52 ], and in eight studies, all dogs were female [ 41 , 43 , 50 , 53 , 57 , 58 , 66 , 76 ].…”

“…Two articles were published in 2021 [39,40], 9 studies were published in 2020 [41,49], 15 were published in 2019 [50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64], 3 were published in 2018 [65][66][67], 6 were published in 2017 [68][69][70][71][72][73], and 3 were published in 2016 [74][75][76]. Between 1 and 17 dogs were included in the studies.…”

“…Other work focused on improving communication and social skills [44,45,47,49,51,63,76]. Finally, one study explored the use of support dogs during dental sessions [61]. As a method for choosing the dog, five papers used test administration [41,44,51,65,72], while three papers evaluated AAT certifications [50,53,56].…”

“…As a method for choosing the dog, five papers used test administration [41,44,51,65,72], while three papers evaluated AAT certifications [50,53,56]. Seven studies evaluated accredited programs as a method of inclusion [39,40,43,61,69,73,76]. All other studies did not include this information.…”