Effectiveness of a videotaped behavioral intervention in reducing anxiety in emergency oral surgery patients

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a videotaped behavioral treatment program in reducing dental anxiety in emergency oral surgery patients. It compared a videotaped placebo program and a no-treatment control condition. Anxiety, measured for two periods during the study (an anticipatory phase just before oral surgery and a post oral surgery phase), was evaluated by means of self-report, physiological, and behavioral observation measures. Results revealed significant treatment group as well as Group X Sex interaction effects for the heart rate index of physiological arousal. Results also revealed that the treatment program was reported by subjects to be significantly more helpful than the placebo program. Overall, these results suggest that a short, videotaped behavioral intervention can have a positive effect on the oral surgery patient, and that the sex of the subject may be an important variable to be incorporated in evaluating the effectiveness of this type of treatment program.