Waiting Room's Environment and Children Anxiety Prior Dental Treatment

The Effect of Waiting Room's Environment on the Levels of Anxiety Experienced by Children Prior Dental Treatment

The amount of time the patient has spent awaiting treatment and the nature of the waiting room environment influence the anxiety level prior treatment. The objective of the present study is to compare the effect of waiting room's environment on the levels of anxiety experienced by children, in sensory adapted dental environment (SADE) and traditional waiting rooms. A parallel randomized trial. The participants will be randomly assigned to one type of waiting room. The participants will be asked to answer Venham Picture Test (VPT) scale while waiting in the waiting room just before entering the clinic.

The SADE waiting room: a small waiting room (2.5mx2.5m) inside the clinic with 6 seats. All ceiling fluorescent lighting is removed. The adapted lighting consisted of slow-moving, repetitive visual color effects created by a projector, and a lighting column that children can touch and climb on. Auditory stimuli include rhythmic music, which is heard via loudspeakers. The traditional waiting room: a waiting area outside the clinic with ten seats in one row faces the reception desk in an area of 15 square meters. The area is air-conditioned, moderately well-lit, without posters or paintings on the walls, and no reading material. •Dental anxiety scale- Venham Picture Test (VPT) is widely used and easily administered. In this test, children are presented with eight cards, with two figures on each card, one 'anxious' figure and one 'nonanxious' figure. They are asked to choose the figure from each pair that describes how they feel at that particular time. All cards are shown in their numbered order. If an anxious figure is chosen, a score of one is recorded. If a nonanxious cartoon is chosen, a score of zero is recorded. A measure of anxiety is obtained by totaling the number of times the child picks the cartoons depicting the anxious state (minimum score, 0; maximum score, 8). The participants will be asked to answer while waiting in the waiting room just before entering the clinic. Study design- The study is a parallel randomized trial. The participants will be randomly assigned to one type of waiting room. Additional data- gender, age, the lengths of waiting, the purpose of the visit (examination or treatment with/without sedation), dental experience, type of waiting room, child escort.

The SADE waiting room: a small waiting room (2.5mx2.5m) inside the clinic with 6 seats. A lighting column that children can touch and climb on. Auditory stimuli include rhythmic music, which is heard via loudspeakers.

According to Venham Picture Test (VPT) scale. A measure of anxiety is obtained by totaling the number of times the child picks the figure depicting the anxious state :minimum score 0; maximum score 8. A score of 0 means low anxiety, a score of 8 means high anxiety.

Inclusion criteria: healthy 3-10 years old boys and girls Exclusion criteria: mentally unable to understand and answer the Venham Picture Test (VPT) to assess anxiety before treatment, accepted immediately without waiting.

Fux-Noy A, Zohar M, Herzog K, Shmueli A, Halperson E, Moskovitz M, Ram D. The effect of the waiting room's environment on level of anxiety experienced by children prior to dental treatment: a case control study. BMC Oral Health. 2019 Dec 30;19(1):294. doi: 10.1186/s12903-019-0995-y.