ReviewBritish dental journal2026
Autonomic cardiovascular mechanisms linked to stress in dental practice.
Review in British dental journal, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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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
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Determinants of dental anxiety in adults attending tertiary care dental centres in Karachi, Pakistan.BMC oral health · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background Abundant evidence from human and animal studies indicates that the sympathetic response during mental stress preferentially involves the heart. Acute or chronic stress can lead to cardiovascular disease, including hypertension and cardiac arrhythmias. Stressors in dental practice are numerous, including drill noise, sight of a needle and pain. Numerous studies indicate that many adults suffer from dental fear or dental anxiety, and many develop dental phobia. Fear, anxiety or phobia are associated with increases in heart rate, changes in systolic blood pressure, and decreased oxygen saturation. This combination of factors poses challenges for the cardiovascular system and may explain why severe cardiac perturbations are observed in some patients receiving dental treatment.Aim We review the central sympathetic pathways and mechanisms involved in the cardiovascular response to mental stress in the context of dental practice.Methods and results Through a comprehensive literature review we present a functional model that illustrates how dental stressors result in autonomic cardiovascular changes. The focus is on medullary and supramedullary regions mediating sympathetic output during stressful situations as well as for integrating the somatosympathetic reflex, the active reflex that controls blood pressure during painful stimulation.Conclusion Concurrent activation of specific groups of sympathetic premotor neurones by both mental stress and nociceptive afferent input may underlie the abnormal cardiac sympathetic output triggered by dental stressors, potentially contributing to the initiation of cardiac arrhythmias.
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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.