Comparing the effect of acceptance and commitment therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy on dental anxiety

Abstract

Background: This study was aimed at the comparison of the effect of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) on dental anxiety. Methods: The present clinical trial was performed with a pretest-posttest design, a control group, and a 3-month follow-up period on patients with dental anxiety. The study participants were 48 patients who were selected through convenience sampling and randomly assigned to 2 experimental groups and one control group. The first experimental group received 10 weekly 90-minute sessions of ACT and the second group received 10 weekly 90-minute sessions of CBT. The control group received no intervention. The Dental Anxiety Inventory (DAI) was used to assess the dependent variable and Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R) and a pulse oximeter were used as screening tools. Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA in SPSS software. Results: The results showed a significant difference between the experimental groups and the control group in terms of dental anxiety (P < 0.01). Furthermore, there was a significant difference in dental anxiety between the pretest, and follow-up and posttest (P < 0.01), but there was no significant difference between the posttest and follow-up (P > 0.05). Moreover, there was no significant difference between the ACT and CBT groups (P > 0.05), but there was a significant difference between the 2 treatment groups and the control group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: ACT and CBT can be used to reduce dental anxiety, and thus, prevent treatment avoidance. © 2020, Vesnu Publications. All rights reserved.