Effectiveness of thaumaturgic distraction in alleviation of anxiety in 4-6-year-old children during inferior alveolar nerve block administration: a randomized controlled trial

Thaumaturgical Distraction as a Modality for Reducing Dental Anxiety in Children: A Systematic Review

Background

Dental fear and anxiety have become a major obstacle for children to accept dental treatment. Dental anxiety ranks fifth among common fears.

Aim

The aim of this current systematic review is to assess the effect of thaumaturgical distraction in reducing anxiety in children undergoing dental procedures.

Materials and methods

This current systematic review was registered in Prospero (CRD42023411750) following PRISMA guidelines. Electronic searches were performed in the databases: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. The search was conducted from inception to March 1, 2024. A broader search strategy was used to prevent missing articles. The search was performed using broad terminology: ((thaumaturgy) OR (magic)) AND (dental). ResearchGate was also consulted, and cross-references were reviewed on this topic to extract all available literature. Only randomized controlled trials are included for data synthesis. Narrative and systematic literature reviews are excluded. Evaluation of the risk of bias is planned using the ROB2 criteria of the Cochrane Collaboration.

Results

A total of 798 titles were screened by title and abstract rigorously by three independent evaluators. After duplicate exclusion and removal of irrelevant titles, 11 articles were included for full-text analysis, of which 6 qualified for final data synthesis.

Conclusion

Within the limits of the available studies, significantly lower anxiety is exhibited in the children treated under the thaumaturgical distraction group as opposed to the control group.

How to cite this article

Lekhwani P, Tirupathi S, Afnan L. Thaumaturgical Distraction as a Modality for Reducing Dental Anxiety in Children: A Systematic Review. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2024;17(11):1296-1301.

Non-pharmacological interventions for reducing dental anxiety in pediatric dentistry: a network meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Child dental anxiety is a prevalent issue in the field of pediatric dentistry. At present, several non-pharmacological interventions are employed to mitigate anxiety during dental treatments for children. The objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of diverse non-pharmacological interventions in reducing dental anxiety, as well as enhancing heart rate during pediatric dental treatments. To achieve this, we conducted a systematic review and a network meta-analysis (NMA) to compare the efficacy of various outcome indicators.

METHODS

A thorough search was conducted in the databases of PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Scopus, APA PsycInfo, CINAHL, and AMED to identify all eligible randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from the beginning of the databases up to August 1, 2024. The quality assessment was carried out using the Cochrane Collaboration's bias risk tool. The two outcome measures under consideration were dental anxiety and heart rate. Network graphs, league tables and SUCRA were constructed using R 4.2.3 software and Stata 16 software. This study is registered in PROSPERO under the registration number CRD42023467610.

RESULTS

The study examined 12 different non-pharmacological approaches, drawing from a pool of 61 research studies involving 6,113 participants aged 4 to 16 years. The results of the network meta-analysis revealed that music (SUCRAs: 93.60%) proved to be the most effective measure in mitigating dental anxiety, followed by aromatherapy (SUCRAs: 78.58%) and game (SUCRAs: 70.99%). Moreover, hypnosis (SUCRAs: 98.80%), music (SUCRAs: 79.58%), and relaxation (SUCRAs: 72.41%) were identified as the top three interventions for decreasing heart rate.

CONCLUSION

In this NMA, when contemplating dental anxiety outcomes, music is recommended as a priority. For heart rate outcomes, hypnosis may be a preferred measure. However, owing to the limited number of articles, the conclusion of this study still requires additional confirmation or correction through more high-quality primary studies in the future.

Seeing the impossible: the impact of watching magic on positive emotions, optimism, and wellbeing

Watching a magic trick is a unique experience in which seemingly impossible events appear possible but without any suspension of disbelief. Unfortunately, relatively little work has examined the psychological impact of this fascinating experience. In the current study, participants first completed a measure of the degree to which they disliked magic (Loathing of Legerdemain Scale: LOLS) and then watched a video that either contained a series of magic tricks (magic video) or carefully matched non-magic tricks (control video). Participants then rated the degree to which they experienced positive epistemic emotions (Epistemically Related Emotion Scale: ERES), their belief about impossible events being possible in the future (Modal Judgment Task: MJT), general optimism (State Optimism Measure: SOM) and subjective wellbeing (Satisfaction With Life Scale: SWLS). Compared to participants who watched the control video, those who saw the magic video reported more positive epistemic emotions on the ERES. There were no significant differences on the MJT, SOM and SWLS. Participants' LOLS scores were negatively correlated with the ERES, SOM and SWLS, suggesting that those who like magic are more likely to experience positive epistemic emotions, have higher levels of general optimism, and express greater satisfaction with their lives. These findings are discussed within the context of short-term and long-term exposure to magic, along with recommendations for future work.

On practicing magicine, from wonder to care: A systematic review of studies that apply magic in healthcare

RATIONALE

Magic, traditionally perceived as entertainment, has been increasingly employed in healthcare to enhance health and well-being. Despite its potential benefits across various dimensions of health, including biological, psychological, and social, a comprehensive review highlighting its broad applications in healthcare remains unexplored.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to explore the diverse uses of magic within healthcare, progressing from entertainment to integral medical care, termed "magicine."

METHODS

This systematic review adopted a narrative synthesis approach, and an extensive database search was conducted including Embase Classic & Embase, MEDLINE (Ovid), Scopus, the Cochrane Collaboration Central Register of Controlled Clinical Trials, Cochrane Systematic Reviews, and CINAHL (EBSCOhost), from the earliest records to 22 June 2023. Potential applications of magic in healthcare were explored with an unrestricted search strategy. A quality assessment was conducted using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. (Registration: PROSPERO number CRD42023417122.) RESULTS: This review identified 82 journal articles, including 11 randomized controlled trials, four quasi-experimental designs, 10 pre-experimental designs, five qualitative studies, three mixed methods studies, two observational studies, five review articles, and 42 commentaries. The review resulted in the conception of "magicine ennead" - nine diverse areas where magic can be applied in healthcare including physical rehabilitation, cognitive training, psychotherapy, humor therapy, distraction therapy, social skills, health education, doctor-patient relationships, and surgical techniques. These applications demonstrate the potential of magic to enhance health outcomes for the general population and improve the clinical practice of healthcare professionals.

CONCLUSIONS

Magic in healthcare shows potential for varied applications, and a deeper understanding of these applications could lead to optimized and cost-efficient intervention programs. Given the heterogeneity and varied methodological quality of the current research, future studies necessitate the adoption of rigorous designs with active controls.