Virtual Reality Exposure for Dental Fear

New York University (NYU)

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Dental Fear

Treatments: Behavioral: neVR Fear the Dentist

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; Industry

Identifiers

NCT06494176

s23-00772

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to compare an intervention for dental fear to the usual approach (i.e., whatever your dentist typically does to help you manage fear) in reducing patient fear and making dentist appointments more tolerable. The dental fear intervention (called neVR Fear the Dentist™) has two separate steps. Step 1 involves using a mobile app that is based on research-backed approaches to handling dental fear on your smartphone or device. Step 2 is a 1-hour self-administered virtual reality intervention to be completed in the dental office.

This is a randomized study. Participants will be randomized to either the intervention group or an active control.

Investigators hypothesize that participants in the intervention condition will show greater declines in self-reported dental fear and improved oral health-related quality of life during post-treatment and follow-up period.

Enrollment: 250 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 13+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

1. Be at least 13 years of age
2. Report dental fear of 4 or higher on a scale of 0-10 on the Gatchel dental fear item
3. Be able and willing to comply with study procedures
4. Provide a signed and dated informed consent form
5. Proficient in English because the intervention is in English
6. Have access to a smartphone or tablet
7. If self-referred, have a dental appointment already scheduled with their own dentist.
8. If self-referred, live in the NYC metro area or are willing to travel to the NYU College of Dentistry.
9. If self-referred, have access to an Oculus headset and live in the U.S.

Exclusion criteria

1. Uncorrected, severe, or profound hearing or visual impairment such as stereoscopy blindness or nystagmus
2. Diagnosed with any of the following psychiatric conditions: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) due to dental trauma, Major Neurocognitive Disorder (Dementia), Schizophrenia, or Intellectual Disability
3. Current diagnosis of a balance disorder, such as vertigo
4. Lifetime history of cybersickness
5. Previous history of epileptic seizures
6. A history of cardiac problems
7. Are in pain, require urgent care, or whose necessary treatment will be delayed by participating in the study

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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250 participants in 2 patient groups

VRET Intervention

Experimental group

Treatment:

Behavioral: neVR Fear the Dentist

Active Control

No Intervention group