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Virtual reality exposure therapy for treatment of dental phobia Kumar Raghav Gujjar Ratika Sharma Ad De Jongh Dental Update 2024 44:5, 707-709.
Authors
Kumar RaghavGujjar
MDS(Paediatric Dentistry)
PhD Candidate, Department of Social Dentistry, Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA), University of Amsterdam and VU University, 1081 LA Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Dentistry, SEGi University, No 9 Jalan Teknologi, Kota Damansara, PJU-5, Petalingjaya-47810, Selangor, Malaysia
PhD Candidate, School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Public Health Building, Cnr Wyndham St and Herston Rd, Herston QLD 4006, Australia
Professor, Department of Social Dentistry, Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA), University of Amsterdam and VU University, 1081 LA Amsterdam, The Netherlands; School of Health Sciences of Salford University, Manchester, UK
Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) has gained in popularity as an effective treatment for anxiety disorders. The purpose of this article is to determine the applicability of VRET in the treatment of dental phobia of two patients. Two case examples of female dental patients, aged 56 and 24 years, who met the criteria for dental phobia according to the Phobia Checklist, illustrate the use of VRET in the dental setting. VRET that is used as a psychological treatment for dental fear and dental phobia can potentially be given by a non-specialist (for example dental assistant), thereby making it a cost-effective therapy for the treatment of dental phobia.
CPD/Clinical Relevance: This article is the first of its kind to demonstrate Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) in the treatment of dental anxiety.
Article
A substantial proportion of the population suffers from dental fear.1 This fear can result in a reduced number of dental visits2 and poor oral health.3 When the avoidance,4 anxious anticipation,5 or distress6 in the feared situations interferes significantly with the person‧s normal routine, occupational functioning, social activities or relationships, or there is a marked distress about having the dental fear, the condition is termed as ‘dental phobia’. Dental phobia is classified as a specific phobia within the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th edn).7
With regard to the treatment of fears and phobias, therapeutic procedures using gradual and systematic confrontations with the fearful objects and situations, such as systematic desensitization and in vivo exposure, are the first line treatments.8-10 These procedures can be applied either in imaginal (in vitro), or in real life (in vivo). Since imaginary procedures have been found to be less effective than in vivo exposure, the latter has generally been accepted as the treatment of choice.11 The basic assumption of in vivo exposure is that a fear response gradually extinguishes when the provoking stimulus (for instance, the sound of the drill) is repeatedly presented, but is not followed by an aversive event (eg one involving pain) so that the person learns that such feared consequences are not likely to happen.12
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