THE IMPACT OF AUDIO-VISUAL AIDS ON ANXIETY AMONG PATIENTS UNDERGOING SURGICAL DENTAL EXTRACTION IN A RURAL COMMUNITY OF INDIA: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Anxiety is a common psychological issue experienced by many people, particularly when faced with perceived danger or threat. Dental anxiety, specically related to surgical dental extractions, is a common phenomenon, leading to avoidance of extraction and other dental procedures. Aims and Background: The study aims to determine the prevalence of anxiety in patients undergoing dental surgical extraction before and after awareness session about the procedure by using the Modied Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) and also to evaluate the role of awareness of dental extraction procedures in the form of Audio-Visual awareness tapes of the procedure on anxiety in patients. A sample of Materials and Method: 150 patients in the age group of 18-55 years was examined for the study by the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. The MDAS score was recorded before showing the Audio-visual tape about the surgical dental extraction procedure. Scores were again recorded after the patient has seen the audio-visual tape. Both scores were compared and the effectiveness of the awareness tape was assessed. The study found a Result: signicant decrease in anxiety levels among patients who received audio-visual awareness sessions about the surgical dental extraction procedure. Conclusion: The use of audio-visual awareness aids as a psychotherapeutic method to alleviate dental anxiety before dental extraction was found to be signicantly effective.