Acupuncture can calm highly anxious dental patients and ensure that they can be given the treatment they need, suggests a small study published in Acupuncture in Medicine.
A visit to the dentist provokes extreme fear and anxiety in an estimated one in 20 people, and can put them off going altogether, a condition termed odontophobia. And up to a third of patients report moderate anxiety at the prospect of dental treatment, studies show.
The authors base their findings on 16 women and four men from eight dental practice lists.
Each of the patients was moderately or extremely anxious about going to the dentist for treatment, as assessed by a validated questionnaire -- the Back Anxiety Inventory (BAI).
All were in their 40s and had been trying to deal with this problem for between two and 30 years.
The BAI score was assessed before and after five minutes of acupuncture treatment, targeting two specific acupuncture points (GV20 and EX6) on the top of the head.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100329203535.htm
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