The Effects of Virtual Reality on Patients’ Anxiety Before Dental Surgery

Aims: Anxiety due to dental interventions and its complications are common in cases, like wisdom tooth surgery. Related pharmacotherapy is also associated with adverse effects and are not accepted by some patients. Virtual Reality (VR) is one of the new and non-invasive technologies proposed in this regard. This study aimed to determine the effects of VR on patients’ anxiety before dental surgery. Methods & Materials: In this clinical trial, 60 patients who were candidates for dental surgery in Dental School in Mashhad City, Iran, were randomly assigned to two groups of control and intervention (n=30/group). Initially, in addition to demographic characteristics, patients’ anxiety levels were measured using the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Then, the intervention group was placed in VR space for 12 minutes using the Remax-RT-V03 audio-visual device; however, no intervention was performed in the control group. Before surgery, anxiety was re-measured by a questionnaire in two groups with the same time interval (15 minutes after the first stage). The obtained data were analyzed in SPSS by Independent Samples t-test, Paired Samples t-test, and Chi-squared test at a significant level of P≤0.05. Findings: The Mean±SD age of the examined patients was 26.5±4.9 years. In total, 53.3% and 46.7% of the study participants were female and male, respectively. The research groups were homogeneous concerning demographic characteristics. The Mean±SD scores of anxiety in the research units before the intervention were 55.56±7.08 in the experimental group and 53.70±10.53 in the control group, i.e., not significantly different. However, after the intervention, anxiety decreased in the experimental group (45.56±10.52), compared to the control group (54.53±9.83); the difference between the study groups was significant (P<0.001). Conclusion: Applying VR was effective in reducing patients’ anxiety before dental surgery; thus, its use in dental clinics is recommended after additional studies.