Title	Anxiety Management In Endodontic Patients
Clinical Question	For patients who are receiving root canal therapy, will providing education on the procedure decrease the patient’s anxiety versus no anxiety management?
Clinical Bottom Line	Educating patients about endodontic therapy is not an overwhelmingly effective way of managing anxiety related to this procedure. (See Comments on the CAT below)
Best Evidence
PubMed ID Author / Year Patient Group Study type (level of evidence) 16640637 Van/2006 Large sample (n=437) Randomized Controlled Trial Key results The clinical implication of this experiment is that patients should be accurately informed about pain associated with ET. In this way, the patient may be more at ease before and during treatment, decrease avoidance behavior and make decisions regarding treatment choice, based on common sense rather than fearful expectations. 19910479 Sorrell/2009 Study 1- undergraduates Study 2- endodontic patients Comparative Study Key results The results provide evidence for using a brief informational film as an efficacious method to increase patient knowledge, at least in the short term. The DKQ (dental knowledge questionnaire) is proposed as a tool to assess patient knowledge in the arenas of oral hygiene and endodontics. 16478927 Johnson/2006 Endodontic patients in a postgraduate endo clinic Randomized Controlled Trial Key results Patients in the Endodontic Decision Board (EndoDB) group (n=32) demonstrated a small, but statistically significant, increase in knowledge (t-test; difference=+0.37; p=0.03) compared to the usual care group (n=35). There was no difference between groups in the measures of satisfaction or anxiety (Mann-Whitney U-test; p>0.05).
Evidence Search	Search "Patient Participation"[Mesh] Search "Patient Education as Topic"[Mesh] Search patient participation, Search "Dental Anxiety"[Mesh] Search "Root Canal Therapy"[Mesh]
Comments on The Evidence	Not much research has been done on this topic and there was not a consensus across articles on the effectiveness of this type of dental anxiety management. In my own practice I will probably use alternate forms of therapy.
Applicability	Dental anxiety management is very applicable in everyday practice because some patients avoid treatment for this very reason. Being able to manage anxiety in patients is beneficial for the patient and staff.
Specialty	(Endodontics) (General Dentistry) (Behavioral Science)
Keywords	Root Canal Therapy, Dental Anxiety, Patient Education, Patient Participation
ID#	616
Date of submission	04/12/2010
E-mail	pagek@livemail.uthscsa.edu
Author	Kara Page
Co-author(s)
Co-author(s) e-mail
Faculty mentor	E. Penn Jackson, DDS
Faculty mentor e-mail	JacksonEP@uthscsa.edu
Basic Science Rationale (Mechanisms that may account for and/or explain the clinical question, i.e. is the answer to the clinical question consistent with basic biological, physical and/or behavioral science principles, laws and research?) None available
Comments and Evidence-Based Updates on the CAT (FOR PRACTICING DENTISTS', FACULTY, RESIDENTS and/or STUDENTS COMMENTS ON PUBLISHED CATs) by Loc Tran, Khurram Lalani, Andrea Bakke (San Antonio, TX) on 01/06/2014 In a PubMed and Trip search conducted in January 2014, no newer research was found on the topic, for as the author stated, there is little research to be found at all. A search on “endodontic treatment” and “dental anxiety” and “patient education” showed this CAT as the #1 and only result in the TRIP database. This CAT itself is up-to-date and relevant to general dentists and endodontists, however as stated, further research is required in order to fully support or refute this hypothesis.