Virtual Reality Exposure for Dental Fear
- Conditions
- Dental Fear
- Interventions
- Behavioral: neVR Fear the Dentist
- Registration Number
- NCT06494176
- Lead Sponsor
- New York University
- Brief Summary
The purpose of this study is to compare an intervention for dental fear to the usual approach (i.e., whatever your dentist typically does to help you manage fear) in reducing patient fear and making dentist appointments more tolerable. The dental fear intervention (called neVR Fear the Dentistâ„¢) has two separate steps. Step 1 involves using a mobile app that is based on research-backed approaches to handling dental fear on your smartphone or device. Step 2 is a 1-hour self-administered virtual reality intervention to be completed in the dental office.
This is a randomized study. Participants will be randomized to either the intervention group or an active control.
Investigators hypothesize that participants in the intervention condition will show greater declines in self-reported dental fear and improved oral health-related quality of life during post-treatment and follow-up period.
- Detailed Description
Not available
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- RECRUITING
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 250
- Be at least 13 years of age
- Report dental fear of 4 or higher on a scale of 0-10 on the Gatchel dental fear item
- Be able and willing to comply with study procedures
- Provide a signed and dated informed consent form an/or assent form (if applicable)
- Proficient in English because the intervention is in English
- Have access to a smartphone or tablet
- Attending dental appointments at one of our participating dental practices.
- Hearing or visual impairment such as stereoscopy blindness or nystagmus
- Known mental disorders such as psychosis, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), developmental or intellectual disability, cognitive impairment
- Known balance disorders such as vertigo and cybersickness
- Previous history of epileptic seizures
- A history of cardiac problems
- Are in pain, require urgent care, or whose necessary treatment will be delayed by participating in the study
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description VRET Intervention neVR Fear the Dentist -
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Dental fear and anxiety Measure will be collected at baseline, immediately post-treatment, and 1-, 3-, and 6-months post treatment. Dental fear and anxiety will also be measured using the Index of Dental Fear and Anxiety (IDAF; Armfield, 2010), an 8-item patient-report survey. Responses range from 1 = "Disagree" to 5 = "Strongly Agree." Total scores range from 5 to 40 with higher scores representing more dental anxiety/fear.
Anticipatory dental fear Measure will be collected at baseline, immediately post-treatment, and 1-, 3-, and 6-months post treatment. Anticipatory dental fear will be measured via self-report using the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS; Humphries et al., 1995), a 5-item scale. All items are rated on a 1-5 scale where 1 = "Not Anxious" and 5 = "Extremely Anxious," with total scores ranging from 5 to 25. Higher scores indicate higher dental anticipatory anxiety.
Reduction in dental fear Measure will be collected at baseline, immediately post-treatment, and 1-, 3-, and 6-months post treatment. Overall dental fear will be measured by the self-report Gatchel Dental Fear Item (Gatchel, 1987). This scale uses a one-item assessment of overall dental fear. Patients rate their dental fear on a scale of 0 = "None" to 10 = "High", with higher scores representing higher levels of fear.
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method
Trial Locations
- Locations (1)
New York University
đŸ‡ºđŸ‡¸New York, New York, United States