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Virtual Reality Distraction on Dental Anxiety and Behavior in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract: A large population of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) fail to receive adequate dental care. The dental care of these patients poses great difficulties to dental practitioners. Although many of basic behavior management techniques can be employed to enable dental treatment in these patients, their success in reducing the children’s dental anxiety and improving behavior has been limited. Since the thought patterns of children with ASD favor the application of auditory and visual stimuli, we aimed to assess the effectiveness of Virtual Reality (VR) distraction in managing the anxiety and behavior of children with ASD in the dental environment. 68 children aged 8 – 15 years with a known diagnosis of ASD, requiring routine, non-invasive dental treatments were included in the study. These children were scheduled to undergo routine, non-invasive dental treatment procedures, in two dental visits, spaced 3 months apart. In both visits, the dental anxiety and behavior of all the children were measured using Venham’s Picture Test and Frankel’s Behavior Rating scales, respectively at the end of their dental treatment. Completion of dental treatment and data collection was carried out in 40 children whose results were analyzed. There was a significant reduction in patient reported anxiety scores and a significant improvement in their dental behavior was noted when VR distraction was used (p=0.042 and p=0.0001, respectively). Virtual Reality distraction can be used as a successful behavior management method in autistic children during routine dental treatment. 

Citation: Suresh LR, George C. Virtual Reality Distraction on Dental Anxiety and Behavior in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Int Dent Med Res 2019; 12(3): 1004-1010.