Department of Comprehensive Care, Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine, Cleveland, USA.
J Am Dent Assoc. 2009 Dec;140(12):1508-16. doi: 10.14219/jada.archive.2009.0102.
Although pain management during periodontal treatment usually is achieved with anesthesia, alternative methods are available. The authors conducted a study to evaluate the analgesic effect of immersive virtual reality (VR) during periodontal scaling and root planing (SRP) procedures.
The authors recruited 38 patients. They used a within-patient/split-mouth design. Patients received SRP under three treatment conditions in three quadrants. The three conditions were control, watching a movie and VR. After each SRP procedure, patients responded to questions about their discomfort and/or pain by using a visual analog scale (VAS) (range, 0 to 10 in which lower numbers indicate less pain or discomfort). The authors also recorded patients' blood pressure (BP) and pulse rate (PR). Patients were asked which of the three treatment modalities they preferred.
The mean (+/- standard deviation) VAS scores for five questions pertaining to control, movie and VR were 3.95 +/- 2.1, 2.57 +/- 1.8 and 1.76 +/- 1.4, respectively. Paired t tests revealed that VAS scores were significantly lower during VR compared with the movie (P <.001) and control (P <.001) conditions. Similarly, BP and PR were lowest during VR, followed by the movie and control conditions. Patients reported that they preferred the VR condition.
The results of this study suggest that use of immersive VR distraction may be an effective method of pain control during SRP procedures.
Practitioners can use immersive VR distraction for pain control during SRP procedures.
尽管牙周治疗期间的疼痛管理通常通过麻醉来实现，但也有其他替代方法。作者进行了一项研究，以评估沉浸式虚拟现实 (VR) 在牙周刮治和根面平整 (SRP) 过程中的镇痛效果。
作者招募了 38 名患者。他们采用了患者内/分口设计。患者在三种治疗条件下接受三个象限的 SRP。三种条件分别为对照、观看电影和 VR。每次 SRP 后，患者使用视觉模拟量表 (VAS) （范围为 0 到 10，数字越低表示疼痛或不适越小）回答有关不适或疼痛的问题。作者还记录了患者的血压 (BP) 和脉搏率 (PR)。患者被问到他们更喜欢三种治疗方式中的哪一种。
五个与对照、电影和 VR 相关的问题的平均（+/- 标准差）VAS 评分分别为 3.95 +/- 2.1、2.57 +/- 1.8 和 1.76 +/- 1.4。配对 t 检验显示，VR 条件下的 VAS 评分明显低于电影（P<.001）和对照（P<.001）条件。类似地，BP 和 PR 在 VR 时最低，其次是电影和对照条件。患者报告他们更喜欢 VR 条件。
这项研究的结果表明，使用沉浸式 VR 分散注意力可能是 SRP 过程中控制疼痛的有效方法。
从业者可以在 SRP 过程中使用沉浸式 VR 分散注意力来控制疼痛。
