Reduction of dentist anxiety and reduction of blood pressure and heart rate (2003)

 

Susanne Michels-Wakili, Dr. - practicing dentist, Walsrode, Wolf A. Kafka, Prof.

 

Dentist anxiety is a central problem in the relationship between the patient and the dentist. An increased number of visits and unnecessarily protracted treatments and ultimately the resulting increased costs are attributed to it.

 

Under the premise of the concomitant cooperation of the effects previously demonstrated for the BEMER 3000 electromagnetic field therapy, in addition to the effect on circulatory parameters, an influence on the vegetative regulatory processes was shown.

In this context, Michels – Wakili und Kafka investigated in a randomized, placebo controlled, quantitative, clinical double-blind study, the influence of a BEMER 3000-typical pulsed electromagnetic field on possible reduction and shortening of the anxiety states prior to a dental procedure.

To do this, 90 patients between 18 and 69 years of age were randomly assigned to the treatment group (n = 60) or to the placebo group (n = 30). The patients came to the dental practice for a wide variety of treatments. Routing check-ups were represented as well as dental extractions, fillings or surgeries.

The BEMER 3000-electromagnet field application was done by means of an intensive applicator with a mean flux density of approx. 10 µT for 6 minutes in the area of the solar plexus. All patients were required to complete a questionnaire before the application and 30 minutes after the application; the questionnaire was identical to the first part of the validated Spiegelberger trait-state anxiety model. At these points in time, blood pressure and pulse (heart rate) were recorded as anxiety-relevant circulatory parameters.

In the BEMER 3000 electromagnetic field therapy treated group a reduction in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure, a reduction in pulse rate and a questionnaire-supported reduction in anxiety were demonstrated. The differences were highly significant (p = 0.01).

Michels-Wakili and Kafka found that the reductions in blood pressure and pulse rate were classically demonstrated as key factors for possible triggered vegetative reactions to the BEMER 3000 electromagnetic field therapy in a GCP-compliant clinical study. The determined spontaneous reactions are attributable to the BEMER 3000 electromagnetic field therapy. Indeed, in the control group, too, presumably as a treatment effect, reductions in blood pressure and pulse rate were found but they did not reach a level of significance.