Therapy Dogs Shown to Help With Dental Anxiety

Trips to the dentist can be stressful, even terrifying, for some. Reportedly, up to 80% of Americans experience some type of dental anxiety, with about 20% not receiving routine dental care. This can have serious implications for overall wellness.¹

GAGGING A SIGNIFICANT FACTOR

Aside from fear of what a dental visit will cost, patients report dreading getting into the dental chair for myriad reasons. Studies from 2015 and 2017 showed that among the most prevalent concerns for patients is fear of gagging. Other fears cited include previous negative dental experiences, cost of treatment, gag reflex, and fear of bad news.^2,3

Whatever the reason for fear, experts tend to agree that use of anxiety-reducing measures can be beneficial in removing this barrier to routine care.^2,3

DOGS TO THE RESCUE?

To address the dental fear conundrum, Lexi Dunnells, a DDS and MPH candidate at the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine and Colorado School of Public Health decided to combine her two areas of study into a project for the School of Dental Medicine’s Research Day with a focus on how to break down barriers to dental care.

Working with a group of 20 patients through veteran oral health services, one-half of the group were accompanied to dental appointments by a black German shepherd therapy dog named Ziggy (after ensuring they were comfortable around dogs) and half went alone.⁴

“For the patients who had Ziggy present during their appointment, he was there the entire time, sitting right next to them. Just naturally, all the patients sat with their hand on Ziggy’s head, which was really sweet,” Dunnells explained.

VITAL STATISTICS

Patient blood pressure and pulse were measured before and throughout the appointment at 5-minute intervals. Then a final measure was taken at the end of the appointment.

A statistically significant decrease in pulse was observed for patients in the group that had Ziggy present for the duration of the appointment. Although pulses will decrease over the course of an appointment, the drop with the dog present was much more significant.⁴

“We also qualitatively noted throughout the appointments that, during the injection of local anesthesia, pulse stayed steady when the dog was there and did not when the dog was not there. Local anesthesia application is the most common time for anxiety, so that was a pretty cool finding,” Dunnells noted.⁴

More research is needed and the School of Dental Medicine will be bringing in therapy dogs to the student dental clinics starting this June. In fact, there may be opportunities to replicate the study with a larger group and in other types of clinics—such as the endodontic clinic, where anxiety can skyrocket.⁴

References

1. Suedbeck J, Reed-Fitzke K. Easing anxiety with therapy dogs. Dimensions of Dental Hygiene.
2. Randall C, Shulman P, Crout R, McNeil D. Gagging and its associations with dental care-related fear, fear of pain and beliefs about treatment. J Am Dent Assoc. 2014;145:452-457.
3. White AM, Giblin L, Boyd LD. The prevalence of dental anxiety in dental practice settings. J Dent Hyg. 2017;91:30-34.
4. Hatings M. Can dogs improve access to dental care?