SynthesisBMC oral health2024
Non-pharmacological interventions for reducing dental anxiety in pediatric dentistry: a network meta-analysis.
Synthesis in BMC oral health, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed.
- A randomised controlled trial comparing effectiveness of audio-visual aid and ai-personalised video self-modelling interventions to reduce dental fear and anxiety in paediatric patients.European archives of paediatric dentistry : official journal of the European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry · 2026Trial
- Non-Pharmacologic Interventions for Hemodynamic Stability During Dental Implant Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Clinical implant dentistry and related research · 2026Trial
- An AI-Assisted pictorial measure of children's dental anxiety during the initial child-dentist interaction.BMC pediatrics · 2026Observational
- Non-Pharmacological Interventions for Managing Preoperative Anxiety in the Context of Odontectomy: A Systematic Review.Dentistry journal · 2026Review
- Article
- Effectiveness of Audiovisual Distraction During Dental Treatment Under Nitrous Oxide/Oxygen Conscious Sedation in Paediatric Patients: A Randomized Crossover Clinical Trial.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Comparative Evaluation of Pain Perception and Postoperative Pain in Children with Precooled Injection Sites Using Popsicles for Local Anesthesia: A Randomized Controlled Trial.International journal of clinical pediatric dentistry · 2026Article
- Impact of Mobile Oral Health Applications on Pediatric Dental Anxiety: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis.Cureus · 2026Review
- Behavioral and Cognitive Strategies in Pediatric Dentistry: Current Concepts in Anxiety and Fear Management.Cureus · 2026Review
- Impact of therapeutic play and music therapy on dental anxiety and pain perception in pediatric patients: a clinical study.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Comparative efficacy of non-pharmacological interventions on emergency delirium in postoperative children: a systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis.International journal of surgery (London, England) · 2026Article
- Current practices and perceived effectiveness of alternative behavioral management techniques for pediatric dental anxiety: a cross-sectional survey of dentists in Spain.Frontiers in dental medicine · 2026Article
- Effect of Personalized AI-Generated Picture Books on Anxiety During First Dental Visits in Young Children: Two Case Reports.Case reports in dentistry · 2026Article
- Children's experiences with conscious sedation in dental care: a Norwegian cross-sectional study.Acta odontologica Scandinavica · 2025Article
- Beyond failure: a case report on brain state changes during virtual reality-induced hypnosis in pediatric patient.BMC oral health · 2025Article
- Assessing Discharge Readiness After Propofol-Mediated Deep Sedation in Pediatric Dental Procedures: Revisiting Discharge Practices with the Modified Aldrete Recovery Score.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Dentophobia and the Interaction Between Child Patients and Dentists: Anxiety Triggers in the Dental Office.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Culture and Behaviour Management of Children in the Dental Clinic: A Scoping Review.Dentistry journal · 2025Review
- Effectiveness of Non-Pharmacological Interventions in Reducing Dental Anxiety Among Children with Special Needs: A Scoping Review with Conceptual Map.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Prevalence and Patterns of Potentially Inappropriate Prescribing by Brazilian Dentists for Pediatric Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study.BioMed research international · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundChild dental anxiety is a prevalent issue in the field of pediatric dentistry. At present, several non-pharmacological interventions are employed to mitigate anxiety during dental treatments for children. The objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of diverse non-pharmacological interventions in reducing dental anxiety, as well as enhancing heart rate during pediatric dental treatments. To achieve this, we conducted a systematic review and a network meta-analysis (NMA) to compare the efficacy of various outcome indicators.
methodsA thorough search was conducted in the databases of PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Scopus, APA PsycInfo, CINAHL, and AMED to identify all eligible randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from the beginning of the databases up to August 1, 2024. The quality assessment was carried out using the Cochrane Collaboration's bias risk tool. The two outcome measures under consideration were dental anxiety and heart rate. Network graphs, league tables and SUCRA were constructed using R 4.2.3 software and Stata 16 software. This study is registered in PROSPERO under the registration number CRD42023467610.
resultsThe study examined 12 different non-pharmacological approaches, drawing from a pool of 61 research studies involving 6,113 participants aged 4 to 16 years. The results of the network meta-analysis revealed that music (SUCRAs: 93.60%) proved to be the most effective measure in mitigating dental anxiety, followed by aromatherapy (SUCRAs: 78.58%) and game (SUCRAs: 70.99%). Moreover, hypnosis (SUCRAs: 98.80%), music (SUCRAs: 79.58%), and relaxation (SUCRAs: 72.41%) were identified as the top three interventions for decreasing heart rate.
conclusionIn this NMA, when contemplating dental anxiety outcomes, music is recommended as a priority. For heart rate outcomes, hypnosis may be a preferred measure. However, owing to the limited number of articles, the conclusion of this study still requires additional confirmation or correction through more high-quality primary studies in the future.
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What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.