Objectives: This randomized clinical trial compared the effectiveness of music and informative videos as distraction tools to reduce the anxiety of patients during root canal treatment and retreatment.
Method and materials: A total of 90 patients were enrolled in the study. The patients were randomly allocated to three groups: Group 1 listened to music during the treatment (n = 30), Group 2 watched an informative preoperative video (n = 30), and a control group underwent treatment without a distraction method (n = 30). Prior to treatment, the Corah Dental Anxiety Scale (CDAS) and a visual analog scale for pain were used to assess anxiety and preoperative pain. Systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen saturation were recorded before the intervention (T1), after the local anesthetic (T2), following pulp extirpation or removal of root fillings (T3), and immediately following rubber dam removal (T4). One-way ANOVA, followed by post-hoc Bonferroni tests for multiple comparisons, were used to compare mean values of systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen saturation among the groups. A P value of 5% was considered as significant.
Results: Listening to music reduced systolic blood pressure, heart rate (P .001), and diastolic blood pressure (P = .003) in patients undergoing root canal treatment and retreatment at T4 compared to the baseline (T1). Music (P .001) and informative video (P = .003) groups had significantly lower postoperative visual analog scale pain scores.
Conclusion: Listening to music during root canal treatment and retreatment reduced anxiety levels in patients compared to informative preoperative videos and no distraction technique.
Keywords: dental anxiety, distraction techniques, educational videos, music, pain, root canal treatment
