Enjoyable Dentistry

The Scientific Research Evidence that proves the validity of the enjoyable dentistry technique

An extensive research project was carried out Carried out by Dr. Bashar Al-Naher, the developer of the Enjoyable Dentistry Technique as part of the Maters Degree from University College, London which was completed in 2003.
A total of 118 patients took part in the project. They were split into 4 groups randomly as follows:

• Group one consisting of 29 patients were given standard dental treatment with just local anaesthetic.

• Group 2 consisting of 29 patients were given the same standard dental treatment but with instructions in Progressive relaxation and Guided Imagery (PAGI).

• Group 3 consisting of 30 patients were given the same standard dental treatment but with "Happy Air" mild sedation (Relative Analgesia- RA)

• Group 4 consisting of 30 patients were given the same standard dental treatment but this time with Progressive relaxation and Guided Imagery (PRAGI) as well as "Happy Air" Sedation (RA).

After the treatment, each patient was asked to fill in a questionnaire asking him or her the following questions:

• How painful the treatment was.

• How intense was the pain associated with the treatment.

• How unpleasant was the pain associated with the treatment.

• How much did the injection of local anaesthetic hurt.

• How relaxed were you during the dental treatment.

• How enjoyable was the dental treatment.

• How comfortable were you during the treatment

• How pleasant was your treatment

• How did this treatment compare with other treatments elsewhere.

The patient had to put a mark in a 10 cm line indicating the answer to the question. This is called a visual Analogue Scale Questionnaire. In this system the lower the recordings, the more favourable the results. For example in the question about how enjoyable the treatment was mark 10 was not at all enjoyable and mark 1 was the most enjoyable thing ever. So if the patient recorded 2 on that scale it means that the patient found the treatment extremely enjoyable and so on. So the lower the readings, the better the results.
Below are the results that were obtained for the 4 groups

Group 1 - Standard treatment is the standard treatment alone is RED in colour.
Group 2 - Standard treatment with Progressive Relaxation and Guided Imagery (PRAGI) is BLUE in colour.
Group 3 - Standard treatment with "Happy Air" Sedation is YELLOW in colour.
Group 4 - Standard treatment with Progressive relaxation and Guided Imagery as "Happy Air" Sedation is GREEN in colour.

As can be seen from the results, the lowest and therefore the most favourable readings were obtained from group 4 and this applied to all the measures that were taken.Statistically it was found that about 98% of group 4 were able to experience totally pain free, relaxing and comfortable dentistry and 95% were able to experience truly enjoyable dentistry as well