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Effectiveness of a smartphone application on dental anxiety in adolescents: A randomized controlled trial
Trícia Murielly Andrade de Souza Mayer1, Giovanna Burgos Souto Maior1, Nataly Pereira da Costa2
1Department of Pediatric Dentistry, University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil.
Background:
Dental anxiety is a common issue among adolescents. Despite the use of smartphones being an important part of their daily lives, only a few digital-based interventions for dental anxiety have been tested in randomized controlled trials (RCT).
Aim:
The aim of this study was to evaluate a new smartphone application (App) named FALE, which was designed to demonstrate interest from the dentist to adolescent and to reduce dental anxiety.
Design:
This is a RCT in which 184 adolescents aged 10-19 years were randomly allocated into the intervention group (IG) or the control group (CG). The intervention was applied in the waiting room before the consultation at a dental clinic. The IG answered the FALE, which contained 14 questions-of which the first and last questions addressed anxiety, whereas the CG answered the question about anxiety twice with an interval between them.
Results:
There was a significant difference in the distribution of anxiety rating frequencies before and after the intervention period in both groups. For the IG, there was a reduction in anxiety after the intervention of 16.29%, and, in the CG, a reduction of 2.2% (p < .001).
Conclusion:
The FALE App effectively reduced dental anxiety before the appointment.
