[Evaluation of intraoperative standardized hypnosis with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory]

Surgical treatment under local anesthesia is commonly restricted by limited compliance of patients. Hypnosis may represent an alternative to sedation or general anesthesia. As the procedure demonstrated promising prospects during 1-year experience, the observed hypnosis-induced effects are now being evaluated in clinical studies.

The prospective study included 50 patients scheduled for dental surgery. All procedures were performed under standardized surgical conditions. The experimental group (n=25) received supplementary standardized tape hypnosis, whereas the control group received standard treatment (only local anesthesia). Individual and situative anxiety levels were determined by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI).

After simultaneous increase of preoperative state anxiety, anxiety levels in the hypnosis group showed a significant intraoperative reduction to baseline level, whereas intraoperative anxiety of the control group (n=25) remained unchanged.

Hypnosis reduces intraoperative anxiety of oral and maxillofacial patients significantly. Further clinical studies on the use of hypnosis are considered useful.