Clinical Study Evaluating the Effect of Virtual Reality on Reducing Patients' Anxiety During Wisdom Teeth Extraction (SEREIN)

University Hospital, Strasbourg, France

Status: Begins enrollment this month

Conditions: Oral Surgery; Dental Anxiety; Third Molar Extraction

Treatments: Other: Control Group (No VR); Device: Virtual reality HypnoVR® (VR headset + hypnotic software)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07273968

9832

Details and patient eligibility

About

Dental anxiety is common during third molar extractions and may exacerbate pain perception. Local anesthesia does not prevent exposure to stress-inducing stimuli. Virtual reality (VR) combined with hypnotic scripts (HypnoVR®) provides immersive multisensory distraction. This study tests whether VR reduces perioperative anxiety and postoperative pain compared to local anesthesia alone.

Enrollment: 60 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 65 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Age 18-65
• Indication for extraction of 4 wisdom teeth or ≥2 mandibular wisdom teeth
• ASA I-II
• Written informed consent.

Exclusion criteria

• Visual/hearing impairment
• Psychiatric disorders or psychotropics (<8 weeks)
• Claustrophobia
• Heavy smoking >10 cig/day
• Previous radiotherapy (jaw)
• ASA III-IV
• Pregnancy
• Antithrombotic therapy
• Chemotherapy
• Bisphosphonates
• Uncontrolled diabetes
• Severe anxiety requiring GA or pharmacological sedation
• No health insurance affiliation.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Crossover Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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60 participants in 2 patient groups

Virtual Reality Group

Experimental group

Description:

Wisdom tooth extraction under local anesthesia with immersive VR hypnosis (HypnoVR® system).

Treatment:

Device: Virtual reality HypnoVR® (VR headset + hypnotic software)

Control Group (No VR)

Active Comparator group

Description:

Wisdom tooth extraction under local anesthesia alone (no VR).

Treatment:

Other: Control Group (No VR)