Jafarzadeh Mehdi, Arman Soroor, Pour Fatemeh Farahbakhsh
Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Torabinezad Dental Research Center, Isfahan, Iran.
Adv Biomed Res. 2013 Mar 6;2:10. doi: 10.4103/2277-9175.107968. Print 2013.
Essential oils have been used as an alternative and complementary treatment in medicine. Citrus fragrance has been used by aromatherapists for the treatment of anxiety symptoms. Based on this claim, the aim of present study was to investigate the effect of aromatherapy with essential oil of orange on child anxiety during dental treatment.
Thirty children (10 boys, 20 girls) aged 6-9 years participated in a crossover intervention study, according to the inclusion criteria, among patients who attended the pediatric department of Isfahan Dental School in 2011. Every child underwent two dental treatment appointments including dental prophylaxis and fissure-sealant therapy under orange aroma in one session (intervention) and without any aroma (control) in another one. Child anxiety level was measured using salivary cortisol and pulse rate before and after treatment in each visit. The data were analyzed using t-test by SPSS software version 18.
The mean ± SD and mean difference of salivary cortisol levels and pulse rate were calculated in each group before and completion of treatment in each visit. The difference in means of salivary cortisol and pulse rate between treatment under orange odor and treatment without aroma was 1.047 ± 2.198 nmol/l and 6.73 ± 12.3 (in minutes), which was statistically significant using paired t-test (P = 0.014, P = 0.005, respectively).
It seems that the use of aromatherapy with natural essential oil of orange could reduce salivary cortisol and pulse rate due to child anxiety state.
香精油已被用作医学中的替代和补充疗法。柑橘香味已被芳香疗法师用于治疗焦虑症状。基于这一说法，本研究的目的是调查橙香精油芳香疗法对儿童牙科治疗期间焦虑的影响。
根据纳入标准，2011年在伊斯法罕牙科学院儿科就诊的30名6至9岁儿童（10名男孩，20名女孩）参与了一项交叉干预研究。每个孩子都接受了两次牙科治疗预约，一次在橙色香气环境下进行牙齿预防和窝沟封闭治疗（干预），另一次在无任何香气的环境下（对照）。每次就诊时，在治疗前后使用唾液皮质醇和脉搏率测量儿童的焦虑水平。数据使用SPSS 18.0软件进行t检验分析。
计算每组每次就诊治疗前和治疗完成后的唾液皮质醇水平和脉搏率的平均值±标准差及平均差值。橙色气味环境下治疗与无香气环境下治疗的唾液皮质醇和脉搏率平均值差异分别为1.047±2.198 nmol/l和6.73±12.3（每分钟），使用配对t检验具有统计学意义（分别为P = 0.014，P = 0.005）。
似乎使用橙天然香精油进行芳香疗法可降低因儿童焦虑状态引起的唾液皮质醇和脉搏率。
