27 March 2023

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Does modifying the consent process reduce anxiety during third molar operations?

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Purpose

Third molar surgery is one of the most commonly performed operations, usually associated with high anxiety. The purpose of this study was to determine if patients' anxiety would reduce if consent was modified to match their dominant intelligence type (DIT).

Methods and materials

A single center, prospective randomized clinical study was conducted in the Maxillofacial Surgery Clinic of Ordu University on patients admitted for lower third molar removal between October 2020 and June 2021. The participants were randomly assigned to a study group where consent was based on DIT or a control group where consent was obtained in the standard fashion. DIT was determined using the multiple intelligence test and was further categorized as visual/spatial, verbal/linguistic, and bodily/kinesthetic. The consent method was the primary and the type of DIT was the secondary predictor variable. The primary and secondary outcome variables were the salivary cortisol level and Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) scores measured before and after the consent, and after the operation. Mann-Whitney U, Friedman, Pearson correlation, and χ2tests were conducted for statistical analysis.

Results

Eighty patients (55 females and 25 males; mean age 23.5 ± 6.2) were included. No significant difference was observed between the study and control groups for the change in cortisol levels and MDAS scores before-after consent (−11.15 ± 62.64; −6.84 ± 32.9) (P = .389), −0.6 ± 3.46; −0.7 ± 2.49) (P = .832) and before consent-after operation (−39.80 ± 108.2; −39.72 ± 77.04) (P = .987), (−4.31 ± 5.97; −3 ± 4.34) (P = .867). The change in MDAS scores and cortisol levels was not correlated after consent (P = .587, r = 0.62) and operation (P = .406, r = 0.94).

Conclusion

Providing consent based on DIT is not statistically different than providing consent in the standard fashion. The role of consent strategy in managing anxiety and lack of correlation between salivary cortisol and MDAS requires further investigation.

Damla Torul, Mehmet Melih Omezli, Tolunay Avci, Ibrahim Selcuk Esin. "Does Modifying the Consent Process Based on the Dominant Intelligence Type Reduce Anxiety During 3rd Molar Operations?" Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. March 01, 2023. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joms.2023.02.015