Patients' perceptions of the benefits of virtual reality during dental extractions

Objectives This study investigated patients' insights into whether virtual reality (VR) technology plays a beneficial role in reducing anxiety levels while undergoing dental extractions. Design Explorative study. Setting Oral Surgery Department of Birmingham Dental Hospital in July 2017. Material and methods Fifty patients were screened for extractions. All participants had previous experience of extractions without VR. Pre-treatment anxiety levels were recorded using the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS). During the procedure, each patient wore a Virtoba VR headset, whereby they were involved in an underwater VR experience. A post-treatment questionnaire recorded patient demographics and VR experiences in relation to anxiety levels. Results Participant response on the benefit of the VR system on anxiety reduction during treatment was: 35% (extremely beneficial), 30% (quite beneficial), 25% (of some benefit) and 10% (of little benefit). Responses showed that 87.5% wanted VR to be used again during their next visit. The most benefit was found to be in the following patient groups: males; young adults (aged 18-35); patients with moderate anxiety (MDAS 11-18), and those who underwent surgical extractions. Conclusion The majority of patients (65%) found VR to be extremely or quite beneficial in reducing their anxiety levels. Perhaps after future large scale studies, more dental clinicians could consider VR technology in their practice for anxiety reduction, particularly when treating the patient groups identified in the study who took a greater liking towards VR.