373 - The Use of Color for Managing Dental Anxiety

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to see how color influences a child’s anxiety in the dental chair.

Method: Twenty children from 4-11 years of age who underwent at least two Class I or Class II restorative treatments were randomly assigned different types of protective eyewear with color lens (clear, yellow, black and blue). The participants' anxiety was measured by using the Venham’s Picture Test (VPT) and the child’s heart rate.

Results: The difference in mean heart between the control group (clear lens) and the group that were assigned to use yellow lens, blue lens and black lens was statistically insignificant (P>.05) for each variable tested. Additionally, the mean VPT score before and after for each color lens compared to the control group showed no statistical significance (P>.05). While there was no significant difference in mean VPT scores there was a decrease in the mean VPT score after the procedure in the yellow lens. On the other hand, there was an increase in the mean VPT score after treatment in the black lens group.

Conclusion: While the results in this study showed no statistical significance, it can be due to the small sample size. Future studies should be done with larger sample size and longer duration to further investigate the use of color as a behavior management method. Moreover, new behavior management techniques are always developing and it is critical to continue researching how to reduce dental anxiety and make patients more comfortable in the dental chair.