Effectiveness of BrightHearts Biofeedback Relaxation and Virtual Reality Distraction During Inferior Alveolar Nerve Block Injection in Children

July 18, 2026 updated by: Sara Ahmed Khira, October University for Modern Sciences and Arts

A Comparative Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the BrightHearts Application as a Biofeedback Relaxation Tool Versus Virtual Reality Distraction in Reducing Dental Anxiety and Improving Behavior in Children During Inferior Alveolar Nerve Block Injection: A Randomized Controlled Trial

The study is designed to compare the effectiveness of "BrightHearts" biofeedback relaxation tool versus Virtual Reality distraction and Verbal distraction as a distraction methods in reducing dental anxiety and improving behavior during the inferior alveolar nerve block procedure.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

39

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • Egypt
      • Giza, Egypt, 12451
        • Recruiting
        • October University for Modern Science and Arts
        • Contact:
          • Naglaa Ibrahim Ezz Eldin, Professor Doctor
          • Phone Number: 00201001984184
          • Email: niezz@msa.edu.eg

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Children from 7 to 12 years
  2. Children who have dental procedures that require an inferior alveolar nerve block injection.
  3. Healthy Children.
  4. Children who fall under Frankl's behavioral rating of 2 (negative) or 3 (positive)

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Children with special health care needs
  2. Children or parents who are unable or unwilling to cooperate with the study protocol or assessment

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Group A
Other: BrightHearts"biofeedback relaxation tool

Before the inferior alveolar nerve block procedure, Participants will be taught to use the application after given instructions.

They will be asked to keep a constant color by focusing on breathing slowly, then they will be allowed to use the application a few minutes before the inferior alveolar nerve block procedure
Active Comparator: Group B
Device: Virtual Reality distraction
participants in this group will experience Virtual Reality distraction eyewear. After giving an introduction about it, they will be allowed to accommodate, then they will be wearing it during the inferior alveolar nerve block procedure in an environment designed to distract them during the injection. The Virtual Reality distraction content will be age-appropriate and engaging, and feature interactive (e.g., Fun animations, and Cartoons).
Active Comparator: Group C
Behavioral: Verbal distraction technique

The Verbal distraction method technique involves:

patient is given an instruction to do in order to divert his/her attention

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Evaluation of Dental Anxiety.
Time Frame: - Baseline (5 minutes before injection) - During injection - 2 minutes after injection
Using Heart rate monitor. Heart Rate (beats per minute [bpm]) measured using a heart rate monitor. Higher heart rate values indicate greater physiological anxiety.
- Baseline (5 minutes before injection) - During injection - 2 minutes after injection

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Evaluation of Dental Anxiety
Time Frame: Baseline (5 minutes before injection)and immediately after injection.
Using Facial Image Scale scores range from 1 to 5, with 1 indicating no anxiety (very happy face) and 5 indicating highest anxiety (very unhappy face). Higher scores indicate greater dental anxiety.
Baseline (5 minutes before injection)and immediately after injection.
Behavior Assessment
Time Frame: During injection
FLACC Rating Scale. Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability (FLACC) Scale. Scores range from 0 to 10, with higher scores indicating greater pain and distress.
During injection

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

October University for Modern Sciences and Arts

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

November 15, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

August 30, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

September 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 21, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 18, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

July 21, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

July 21, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 18, 2026

Last Verified

November 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • REC-D 22511-5

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

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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