ArticleTrials2025
Effects of animal-assisted therapy on dental anxiety, behavior, and perceptions in young pediatric patients: a blinded randomized controlled trial.
Article in Trials, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 2 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.
Animal Assisted Therapy's Effects on Young Dental Patients
Animal Assisted Therapy as a Behavioral Management Technique During Dental Treatment in Pediatric Patients
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Dog-assisted therapy in paediatric dentistry: physiological, psychological, and family-centred benefits in managing child dental anxiety.European archives of paediatric dentistry : official journal of the European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry · 2026Article
- A Narrative Review of Nonpharmacological Approaches to Control Anxiety in Pediatric Dentistry.International journal of pediatrics · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundBetween 6 and 22% of children are affected by dental anxiety. Dental anxiety is a significant barrier to dental care and is associated with dental avoidance and negative oral health outcomes. Pharmacological methods of anxiety management are costly, carry risks of adverse outcomes, and may not be acceptable to some families. Alternative non-pharmacological methods are needed for the safe and effective delivery of dental care. Although there is an abundance of literature regarding animal-assisted therapy (AAT) in medicine, only preliminary studies on AAT exist in dentistry. To identify optimal outcome measures for evaluating AAT in pediatric dental contexts, a randomized controlled trial protocol was developed.
methodsA prospective randomized controlled trial protocol was developed to examine the impact of AAT on objective (heart rate, salivary stress and pain markers, and observational coding) and subjective self-reported measures of anxiety, pain, and dental expectations in pediatric patients. The study is designed to enroll 180 pediatric patients (4-8 years old), randomized into three arms (n = 60 per arm) with stratification by age (< 6.5 vs ≥ 6.5) and gender (block size = 4). Two therapy protocols (+ Short AAT and + Long AAT exposures) will be compared relative to an active control (coloring a dog picture) during a diagnostic dental visit consisting of an oral exam, dental cleaning, and simulated bitewing intraoral radiographs. DISCUSSION: This study will provide information on optimal outcome measures to evaluate the impact of AAT on dental anxiety and behavior in pediatric dental patients. Determining the effects of AAT in pediatric dental care may provide a safe, non-pharmacological method of anxiety and behavior management, with broad translational impact.
trial registrationThis trial was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov with number NCT05464888, on 15 July 2022 (first submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov) and 19 July 2022 (first posted to ClinicalTrials.gov).
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Identifiers
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.