the effect of box breathing exercise on anxiety during administration of buccal infiltration in children aged 6 to 10 years.

Dental procedures, especially local anesthetic administration, are a source of great anxiety to children. Breathing exercises have been proposed as an effective intervention to improve subjective well-being and manage anxiety symptoms. As they are comparatively easy to learn and to implement, breathing exercises may be particularly beneficial for children. Box breathing or square breathing involves inhaling, holding the breath, exhaling and again holding the breath for 4 counts. It forms the box pattern with the breath.

  Aim:

The aim of this study is to evaluate immediate effects of Box breathing exercise on anxious children before and after administration on Buccal infiltration.

children between age range of 6-10 years who require bilateral buccal infiltration local anesthesia for dental treatment will be randomly selected.

Inclusion Criteria:  good physical health, have no previous experience with breathing exercises for anxiety relief, should be nasal breathers and show mild to moderate anxiety levels according to RMS.

Exclusion Criteria: Children with severe anxiety, or cognitive impairments that may hinder participation, mouth breathers.

Informed Consent and Ethical Approval- taken.

The children will be administered buccal infiltration local anesthesia in the first session. After an interval period of 1 week, on the second session, the children will be taught box breathing exercise just prior to administration of buccal infiltration local anesthesia on the contralateral side.

Dental anxiety, dental pain and child’s behaviour assessed