Improving Dental Experiences by Using Virtual Reality Distraction: A Simulation Study

Abstract

Dental anxiety creates significant problems for both patients and the dental profession. Some distraction interventions are already used by healthcare professionals to help patients cope with unpleasant procedures. The present study is novel because it a) builds on evidence that natural scenery is beneficial for patients, and b) uses a Virtual Reality (VR) representation of nature to distract participants. Extending previous work that has investigated pain and anxiety during treatment, c) we also consider the longer term effects in terms of more positive memories of the treatment, building on a cognitive theory of memory (Elaborated Intrusions). Participants (n = 69) took part in a simulated dental experience and were randomly assigned to one of three VR conditions (active vs. passive vs. control). In addition, participants were distinguished into high and low dentally anxious according to a median split resulting in a 3×2 between-subjects design. VR distraction in a simulated dental context affected memories a week later. The VR distraction had effects not only on concurrent experiences, such as perceived control, but longitudinally upon the vividness of memories after the dental experience had ended. Participants with higher dental anxiety (for whom the dental procedures were presumably more aversive) showed a greater reduction in memory vividness than lower dental-anxiety participants. This study thus suggests that VR distractions can be considered as a relevant intervention for cycles of care in which people’s previous experiences affect their behaviour for future events.

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

“…For all these reasons, we believe that this systematic review has certain limitations in terms of number, quality and methodology of the studies included: only three studies in adults were included [2,6,9], which is too scarce to consider them significant in our analysis, the authors themselves even acknowledge the limited sample size in one of them [2], and the existence of major limitations with regard to participant and assessor blinding, in another [6].…”

“…A second detection led to the removal of 14 studies, which left a total of 14 full-text studies for the final selection [2,6,7,9,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] ( Figure 2). Pain levels were assessed in four studies, two in children [20,28] and two in adults [2,21]; anxiety levels in three, two in adults [9,19] and one in children [26]; and anxiety and pain together in seven studies, five in children [22][23][24][25]27] and two in adults [6,7]. Table 2 provides a general description of the details of each study.…”

“…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].…”

Lights, building, action: Impact of default lighting settings on occupant behaviour

“…In recent years, many domains (e.g., psychology, medical, education, military, and etc.) have adapted virtual reality tools for training purposes, as well as to better understand human behaviour and decision making in various situations and settings (Bosch-Sijtsema & Haapamäki, 2014;De Lillo & James, 2012;Duarte, Rebelo, Teles, & Wogalter, 2014;Larsen, Oestergaard, Ottesen, & Soerensen, 2012;Parsons, 2014;Pertaub, Slater, & Barker, 2002;Tanja-Dijkstra, et al, 2014;Waller, Beall, & Loomis, 2004). Kuliga, Thrash, Dalton, and Hölscher (2015) suggests that these environments provide us with the capability to systematically manipulate different environmental settings, which cannot be easily implemented in realworld environments.…”

The use of audiovisual distraction eyeglasses as a resource in Pediatric dental care: a case series

“…The use of audiovisual eyeglasses during dental treatment can not only improve future experiences in the dentist's office but also interrupt the cycle of experiences associated with negative memories and expectations [11]. In this study, we report a five-case series on the use of audiovisual distraction eyeglasses in children during dental care.…”