Comparative Evaluation Of Impact of Sensory Adapted Dental Environment and Audiovisual Distraction on Dental Procedural Anxiety and Behavior in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Fear and anxiety are the primary emotions in children, which need consideration during the dental management of children, especially children with autism spectrum disorder. It is commonly observed that patients with autism spectrum disorder are unable to cooperate in the dental setting as their developmental impairments lead to many difficulties. Changes in the environment, daily schedule or other routines often elicit behavioral resistance and tantrums. In the regular dental setup, disabled children are sensitive and easily invoked to sensory stimuli such as high speed handpiece, overhead light, loud ambient noises. In the dental field, sensory adapted dental environment has been studied as a novel intervention to reduce dental anxiety of children. The sensory adapted dental environment (SADE) comprises a specialized room with controlled multisensory stimuli that is partially lighted, with relaxing music. Distraction is a state of mind that draws the attention away from unpleasant stimuli. Distraction is known to successfully reduce the anxiety and manage children’s dental behavior during procedures. Various methods have been used in literature for the assessment of dental anxiety and distraction techniques but scanty literature is available, in terms of anxiety management and behavior management  in children with autism spectrum disorder. Hence this study is planned to evaluate and compare the impact of sensory adapted dental environment and the effect of audiovisual distraction on dental anxiety and behavior in children with autism spectrum disorder.