Effect of opaque eye coverage on anxiety in candidates for surgical removal of impacted third molars: a randomized clinical trial

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of opaque eye coverage on anxiety in candidates for surgical removal of impacted third molars. STUDY DESIGN: This randomized clinical trial was conducted in candidates for surgical extraction of bilateral, vertical, class IC impacted maxillary third molars or bilateral, mesioangular class IC impacted mandibular third molars. Patients with moderate anxiety (dental anxiety scale range, 9-14) were selected. Surgical extraction of the bilateral third molars was performed in 2 separate visits with and without covering the eyes using surgical drapes. Pulse rate (PR), systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP), and respiratory rate (RR) were measured immediately after surgery. Moreover, after surgery, the patients were asked to rate their dental anxiety on a visual analog scale (VAS) from 0 to 10. The collected data were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Sixty patients with a mean age of 21.31 years participated in the study. PR, systolic BP, RR, and VAS were significantly higher with eye coverage (P < .001). Diastolic BP was not significantly different between the 2 surgical sessions (with or without eye coverage) (P = .157). CONCLUSION: In patients with moderate dental anxiety, covering the eyes during surgical extraction of third molars may contribute to the increase of dental anxiety.