Effectiveness of a smartphone application on dental anxiety in adolescents: A randomized controlled trial

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundDental anxiety is a common issue among adolescents. Despite the use of smartphones being an important part of their daily lives, only a few digital‐based interventions for dental anxiety have been tested in randomized controlled trials (RCT).AimThe aim of this study was to evaluate a new smartphone application (App) named FALE, which was designed to demonstrate interest from the dentist to adolescent and to reduce dental anxiety.DesignThis is a RCT in which 184 adolescents aged 10–19 years were randomly allocated into the intervention group (IG) or the control group (CG). The intervention was applied in the waiting room before the consultation at a dental clinic. The IG answered the FALE, which contained 14 questions—of which the first and last questions addressed anxiety, whereas the CG answered the question about anxiety twice with an interval between them.ResultsThere was a significant difference in the distribution of anxiety rating frequencies before and after the intervention period in both groups. For the IG, there was a reduction in anxiety after the intervention of 16.29%, and, in the CG, a reduction of 2.2% (p < .001).ConclusionThe FALE App effectively reduced dental anxiety before the appointment.