COMPARISON OF PATIENT ANXIETY LEVELS BEFORE AND AFTER USING NOISE CANCELLING HEADPHONES DURING DENTAL PROCEDURES

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the effect of active noise cancellation (ANC) headphones on anxiety and pain perception in adult patients who are undergoing ultrasonic scaling.

Study Design: Randomized crossover clinical trial.

Place and Duration of the Study:

Department of Periodontology, 21 Military Dental Centre (MDC), Quetta, from January 2024 to March 2024.

Methodology: 60 adult patients receiving ultrasonic scaling were enrolled and randomly divided into two groups using the crossover design. Group A had scaling without ANC initially, and then scaling with ANC later, and similarly for Group B. Pain and anxiety were measured after each session by 5-point VAS. The comparison to pre intervention was analyzed with Wilcoxon signed-rank test, correlation with Spearman's.

Results: In group A, the interquartile scores of anxiety scores reduced from 4 to 3 (p < 0.001) and pain mean score reduced from 3 to 2.28 (p < 0.001) in the use of ANC. For Group B, anxiety decreased from 4.31 to 3.09 and pain from 3.16 to 2.06 (p < 0.001).There was no significant correlation between reduction in anxiety and pain (p = 0.992). Use of ANC reduced discomfort consistently throughout ultrasonic scaling, regardless of order or personal sensitivity.

Conclusion: Active noise cancellation headphones dramatically decrease both anxiety and pain in adult patients undergoing ultrasonic scaling. These results advocate for ANC as a useful, non-invasive aid to improve patient comfort during dental treatment.