The effect of music distraction on pain, anxiety and behavior in pediatric dental patients.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if audio distraction could decrease patient anxiety, pain and disruptive behavior during pediatric dental procedures.

Methods: Forty-five children between the ages of 4 to 6 years had two visits each involving restorative dentistry with local anesthesia in a mandibular quadrant. Visit #1 was a baseline session for all patients. During visit #2, the children were assigned to either an upbeat music group, a relaxing music group or a no music group. Variables measured were: (1) parent-reported anxiety via the Modified Corah Anxiety Scale, (2) self-reported anxiety via the Venham picture scale, (3) heart rate, (4) behavior via the North Carolina Behavior Rating Scale and (5) pain via a visual analogue scale.

Results: No significant differences were found among the three groups during experimental visit #2 across any variables. A majority of patients (90%) stated that they enjoyed the music and would like to listen to it during their next visit.

Conclusions: Audio distraction was not an effective means of reducing anxiety, pain or uncooperative behavior during pediatric restorative dental procedures. However, patients did enjoy listening to the music during their visits.