Objective: Dental anxiety (DA) is a frequent and widespread phenomenon worldwide. There are few studies that have discussed the preoperative intervention of dental anxiety. The aim of this study was to explore the clinical efficacy of an online intervention to improve understanding and reduce dental anxiety in patients with transcrestal sinus floor elevation (TSFE) and to explore the correlation between patients' understanding and dental anxiety, pain perception, and satisfaction.
Method and materials: This prospective randomized controlled trial enrolled patients who underwent TSFE and simultaneous implant placement. Patients were randomly allocated to the preoperative online intervention group (test group) and the non-online intervention group (control group). Two patient interview topic guide questionnaires were utilized to assess the extent and source of patients' understanding of the treatment process after a consultation at the hospital (T1) and prior to the surgery (T2). The preoperative dental anxiety was also assessed using the modified Corah dental anxiety scale (MDAS) at T1 and T2. All patients used the visual analog scale to describe their pain perception and satisfaction with the treatment process immediately after surgery (T3). A correlation analysis was performed to analyze the interrelationship between patient understanding, dental anxiety, pain perception, and satisfaction.
Results: At T1, both groups were homogenous in their knowledge of the TSFE procedure and preoperative dental anxiety. At T2, the test group showed a better understanding of the TSFE procedure and lower preoperative dental anxiety than that of T1 and the control group at T2. Pain perception was significantly lower in the test group than in the control group at T3. Patients in the test group expressed significantly greater satisfaction with the treatment process than the control test group. There was a negative correlation between patients' understanding and preoperative dental anxiety. A positive correlation between preoperative dental anxiety and pain perception was found with a significant difference. Patients' satisfaction was positively correlated with understanding and negatively correlated with pain perception.
Conclusions: Preoperative online intervention effectively increased patients' understanding of the treatment process. This resulted in decreased preoperative dental anxiety, decreased pain perception, and greater postoperative satisfaction from patients who underwent TSFE.
Clinical relevance: Online medical care can be considered as an auxiliary tool to improve the effect of implant surgery.
Keywords: dental anxiety; follow-up; implant; internet-based intervention; sinus floor augmentation.