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Virtual Reality Helps Patients ‘Escape’ Dental Pain

Virtual Reality Helps Patients ‘Escape’ Dental Pain
by Carolina Pickens

A recent study by U.K. scientists has concluded patients can better manage procedure-related pain with the help of virtual reality (VR). This research was published earlier this week in the Environment and Behavior journal.

Using VR technology during an exam also altered the way patients recollected appointment pain a week later. This is a significant finding as the dental world commonly agrees that a patient's memories of painful experiences at the dentist greatly influence the likelihood of attending future routine appointments.

Researchers from the Universities of Birmingham, Exeter and Plymouth worked together at Torrington Dental Practice to perform this study. They separated patients into two studies to examine the effects of VR on dental appointment pain and anxiety.

In the first study, patients were given a cold pressor task (immersing the patient's hand into cold water to study elevated heart levels and other stress indicators) and were either allowed to wear VR goggles that either showed nothing, a coastal scene they could not interact with, or a coastal scene in which they could move a joystick with the nonimmersed hand to explore the landscape.

After the study, participants were asked to rate their levels of experience pain on an 11-point scale. Those exposed to VR conditions rated their pain one-point less than those not provided VR conditions. The passive VR and active VR study groups did not deviate in their measure of experienced pain.
 
One week later, participants were asked to recall their experience, and the pain they endured. VR reduced the measure of recalled pain. Again, the active VR participants did not deviate from passive VR participants in their memory of the overall experience. This information lead researchers to believe this technology could be a benefit to anxious patients in the future.

Read full article on MultiBriefs.