Dental Fear and Anxiety is an emotional experiences affecting many children and adolescents which can lead to behavioral problems in the dental setting. The purpose of the proposed study is to investigate the effect of virtual reality on anxiety, behavior, and pain in children undergoing restorative dental procedures. Children enrolled in the study will include patients ages 6-18 who are healthy and require two or more dental sealants (at least one sealant per side). The participants in the study will serve as their own control using a split-mouth cross-over randomized control clinical trial design and will be randomly assigned to receive virtual reality or traditional behavior guidance techniques first during dental sealant placement. The objectives of this study are to explore the associations between the use of virtual reality distraction during dental sealant placement with Frankl score, FLACC scale, and anxiety based on the change in heart rate, and pain based on self-reported FPS-R when compared with to the control group. The crossover design will be assessed by a linear mixed model with patient treated as a random effect. This model will include treatment, visit, treatment by visit interaction term as well as a treatment sequence variable. Prior to analysis, the primary outcome measures will be assessed for normality using a Shapiro-Wilk statistic as well as quantile-quantile (QQ) plots. Should the data deviate sharply from a normal distribution, normalizing transformations will be sought and applied to the data.
Behavior, Child, Anxiety, Dental
Dental Fear and Anxiety is an emotional experiences affecting many children and adolescents which can lead to behavioral problems in the dental setting. The purpose of the proposed study is to investigate the effect of virtual reality on anxiety, behavior, and pain in children undergoing restorative dental procedures. Children enrolled in the study will include patients ages 6-18 who are healthy and require two or more dental sealants (at least one sealant per side). The participants in the study will serve as their own control using a split-mouth cross-over randomized control clinical trial design and will be randomly assigned to receive virtual reality or traditional behavior guidance techniques first during dental sealant placement. The objectives of this study are to explore the associations between the use of virtual reality distraction during dental sealant placement with Frankl score, FLACC scale, and anxiety based on the change in heart rate, and pain based on self-reported FPS-R when compared with to the control group. The crossover design will be assessed by a linear mixed model with patient treated as a random effect. This model will include treatment, visit, treatment by visit interaction term as well as a treatment sequence variable. Prior to analysis, the primary outcome measures will be assessed for normality using a Shapiro-Wilk statistic as well as quantile-quantile (QQ) plots. Should the data deviate sharply from a normal distribution, normalizing transformations will be sought and applied to the data.
Virtual Reality in Pediatric Dentistry
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Children's Dental Health Clinic, Long Beach, California, United States, 90806
Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry Pediatric Department, Los Angeles, California, United States, 90089
Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.
For general information about clinical research, read Learn About Studies.
6 Years to 18 Years
ALL
Yes
University of Southern California,
Carla Angela Alvarez, DMD, STUDY_CHAIR, Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry Pediatric Department
2026-06-30