"The Effect of Lavender Aromatherapy on Dental Anxiety"

September 8, 2026 updated by: Dr Sadaf Arshi, Dow University of Health Sciences

"The Effect of Lavender Aromatherapy on Dental Anxiety-A Randomized Control Trial"

ABSTRACT

Background:

Dental anxiety is addressed as a common issue in adults, often delaying necessary dental treatments and impacting overall oral health. Conventional anxiety management methods may not be preferred due to certain limitations, therefore prompting interest in complementary therapies. The most promising therapy is aromatherapy. Aromatherapy uses essential oils for relaxation to reduce stress. This approach is non-invasive and accessible, making it a promising option for reducing dental anxiety. This study will examine the effect of aromatherapy in adults undergoing dental treatment, highlighting holistic strategies in dental care.

Aim of the study:

This study aimed to determine the effect of aromatherapy on dental anxiety among dental patients.

Methodology:

The study will be a randomized control trial, with 68 participants divided into two groups, Experimental (aromatherapy) and Control, randomizing through Sequentially Numbered, Opaque, and Sealed Envelopes (SNOSE). This trial will be conducted at dental OPD, Dr. Ishrat ul Ebad Khan Institute of Oral Health Sciences. The patients of both gender aged 20-45 years, requiring any dental procedure and providing an informed consent form will be part of the study. Patients with colds, asthma, or other respiratory diseases, acoustic problems, allergic to lavender oils used in the study and mental and physical disabilities will be excluded. It will be a single-blinded study where the examiner is unaware of group allocation. Questionnaires will be used to evaluate patient anxiety levels before the intervention and after dental procedure. Intervention (Aromatherapy) will be administered via nebulizer for 15 minutes. The control group will receive placebo intervention via nebulizer filled with normal saline for 15 minutes. Physiological data will be collected to measure stress response, including systolic and diastolic blood pressure, pulse rate, and oxygen saturation, using a digital sphygmomanometer and pulse oximeter at the start of the intervention (baseline) and at the end of the dental procedure.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Aromatherapy (Geranium Essential Oil)

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This randomized control trial will be conducted at the Dow University of Health Sciences-Dr. Ishratul Ebad Khan Institute of Oral Health Sciences. It aims to assess the effect of aromatherapy on dental anxiety in dental patients, during dental procedures The study will involve 68 patients aged 20-45, with equal numbers assigned to two groups: Experimental group receiving aromatherapy and control receiving placebo intervention. Participants will be selected using a non-probability convenience sampling technique, with randomization achieved through Sequentially Numbered, Opaque, and Sealed Envelopes (SNOSE). Inclusion criteria include consenting patients of both gender aged 20-45 years and seeking for one of the following dental procedures: root canal treatment, scaling and polishing or tooth extraction for the very first time while patients with respiratory diseases, allergies to lavender oils, or mental and physical disabilities will be excluded. Patient who may refuse to continue the intervention and are non-cooperative will be excluded.

Data collection will include administration of anxiety questionnaires before the intervention and after the procedure. Intervention (Aromatherapy) will be administered via nebulizer for 15 minutes. The control group will receive placebo intervention via nebulizer filled with normal saline for 15 minutes Physiological data such as blood pressure, pulse rate, and oxygen saturation will also be collected to assess the body's stress response.

The sample size was calculated using Open Epi software, with a margin of error of 5% and a significance level of 0.05. Descriptive statistics will summarize the data, while inferential statistics, including paired t-tests and RM will be used for within-group and between-group comparisons, respectively. SPSS version 21 will be used for data analysis, with a significance level set at ≤ 0.05.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

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

Name: Sadaf Arshi, MSc. in Community Dentistry
Phone Number: 02138771111
Email: sadaf.arshi@duhs.edu.pk

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

Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Patients who will give consent to the study.
Patients aged 20-45 years undergoing dental treatment for the first time.
Both gender.
Patient seeking any one of the following dental procedures: root canal treatment, scaling and polishing or tooth extraction.

Exclusion Criteria

Patients with colds, asthma, and any other respiratory diseases.
Patients with acoustic problems.
Patients who are allergic Lavender oils that have been used in this study.
Patients with mental and physical disabilities.
Patient who may refuse to continue the intervention will be excluded.
Non cooperative patients.

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: Treatment
Allocation: Randomized
Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single

Number of Arms

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Experimental: Aromatherapy will be administered. Lavender Aromatherapy will administrated to Experimental group	Other: Lavender Aromatherapy Lavender Aromatherapy will administrated to Experimental group
Placebo Comparator: Group 2: (Control): Placebo intervention	Other: Placebo Control The control group will receive placebo intervention via nebulizer filled with normal saline for 15 minutes to remain calm and anxiety free.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Dental anxiety Time Frame: one hour	Dental Anxiety status measured by Modified Dental anxiety scale. The minimum and maximum values recorded by Modified dental anxiety scale will be < 10 and >19 respectively and the higher scores means high dental anxiety which is worse outcome	one hour

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Physiological Parameters Time Frame: One hour	Both Systolic and Diastolic Blood pressure measured in mm of Hg. .	One hour
Physiological Parameter Time Frame: one hour	Pulse rate measured as beats per minutes (BPM)	one hour
Physiological Parameter Time Frame: one hour	Oxygen saturation measured in %	one hour

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Dow University of Health Sciences

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

A registered randomized clinical trial evaluating lavender essential oil aromatherapy for the control of dental anxiety during third molar surgery.

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 (Estimated)

September 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

January 31, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

March 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 27, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 8, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

September 10, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 10, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 8, 2026

Last Verified

August 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

DUHS/IRB/EXTENSION/2026/362

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

IPD Plan Description

Individual participant data (IPD) will not be made publicly accessible. Access to the IPD and supporting study documents will be restricted to the Principal Investigator and authorized members of the research team. De-identified data may be made available to qualified researchers upon reasonable request, subject to approval by the Principal Investigator/Institutional Review Board and compliance with applicable confidentiality and data-protection requirements.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

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.

"The Effect of Lavender Aromatherapy on Dental Anxiety"