Dog-Assisted Therapy in Dentistry

Dog-Assisted Therapy in Dental Care Settings

Dog-assisted therapy (DAT) is used in several contexts within various areas of health care. One documented effect is that the proximity of a dog may lower anxiety in perceived stressful situations. Many individuals are afraid to visit the dentist, and someone to the extent that they need medication or anesthesia in order to complete their dental treatment. Based on the literature and own empirical observations, the investigators believe that dog-assisted therapy in connection with dental care may have a positive effect on children with dental anxiety or children that avoid dental care. It is desirable to restrict the use of drugs for these patients because of associated risk and side effects.

The purpose of this pilot study is to evaluate whether using a specially trained therapy dog can have a positive effect on children who are afraid in a dental care setting. Eligible participants (n=16) will meet twice at the dental clinic; one treatment session with a therapy dog in the dental clinic and one without. The therapy dog will be accompanied by a certified dog handler. The investigators will measure physiological variations before, during and after the treatment session. The guardian will complete validated questionnaires portraying the participant's experience of previous dental care. The participant and their guardian will also complete validated questionnaires describing their reactions from the two treatment sessions. A descriptive log for each session will be completed by the investigators.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Dental Anxiety; Pediatric Dentistry; Animal Assisted Therapy
• Intervention / Treatment: Procedure: Therapydog

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 16
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Norway
  • Tromsø, Norway, N-9037
    • Department of Clinical Dentistry, UiT The Arctic University of Norway

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 6 years to 12 years (CHILD)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Children who are afraid of visiting the dental office / children who avoid dental treatment,
• Children who accept the presence of a dog,
• Parents or guardians who accept the presence of a dog

Exclusion Criteria:

• Children or parent/guardian that are afraid of dogs,
• Children or parent/guardian with known dog allergy,
• Children who are immunocompromised,
• Children who cannot understand or complete the patient-questionnaire

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: TREATMENT
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Interventional Model: CROSSOVER
• Masking: SINGLE

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Therapydog; A certified therapydog (together with a certified dog-handler) will be present in the dental clinic while the child will undergo a clinical dental examination by licenced pediatric dentist.	Procedure: Therapydog; Presence of a therapydog during a clinical examination in a dental clinic
NO_INTERVENTION: No therapydog; No therapydog will be present in the dental clinic while the child will undergo a clinical dental examination by licenced pediatric dentist.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Examination achieved; Yes or No	Whether the child complied or not, so that a clinical oral examination could be accomplished within 30 minutes	up to 8 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Child satisfaction	The child will describe his/her feelings by marking one of 6 different emoticon-style facial expressions where number 1 illustrate the most happy face and number 6 illustrates not happy at all.	up to 8 weeks
Measurement of anxiety through the CFSS-DS scale (Dental subscale of Children's Fear Survey Schedule)	The parent/guardian will describe the child's dental fear on a five point scale where 1 is no fear and 5 is the worst fear.	up to 8 weeks
Salivary cortisol level	Measurement of cortisol from participant's saliva sample to assess if dog-assisted therapy (DAT) minimizes stress and anxiety	up to 8 weeks
Heart rate variability	Heart rate will be measured to assess if dog-assisted therapy (DAT) minimizes stress and anxiety. (Biopac Systems software)	up to 8 weeks
Skin conductance (Electrodermal activity)	Skin conductance will be measured to assess if dog-assisted therapy (DAT) minimizes stress and anxiety. (Biopac Systems software)	up to 8 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Tromso
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Anne M Gussgard, DDS,MSc,PhD, Department of Clinical Dentistry, UiT The Arctic University of Norway

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (ACTUAL): October 31, 2017
• Primary Completion (ACTUAL): June 5, 2019
• Study Completion (ACTUAL): June 5, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 11, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 24, 2017
• First Posted (ACTUAL): October 27, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): July 31, 2019
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 30, 2019
• Last Verified: October 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Questionnaire; Dental Care; Pilot Project; Animal-Assisted Intervention; Dog-Assisted Intervention; Dental Clinic
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2017/1078 (REK)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No