Work

Patient-selected music listening and heartrate patterns during paediatric dental hygiene: an exploratory pilot study

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Background Dental procedures may elicit fear and anxiety in children, potentially affecting cooperation and the overall quality of care.Music listening is a simple, low-cost, non-pharmacological intervention that can be easily integrated into preventive dental procedures.However, physiological measures such as heart rate (HR) are non-specific and should not be interpreted as direct measures of dental anxiety, fear, or behavioral cooperation.Aim To explore heart-rate changes across predefined procedural phases in paediatric patients undergoing professional dental hygiene with passive patient-selected music listening compared with standard care, and to descriptively examine HR patterns in a small clinically indicated nitrous oxide/oxygen (N 2 O/O 2 ) conscious sedation reference group. Study Design Single-center exploratory pilot study. Materials and MethodsThis single-center pilot study included 45 children aged 5-14 years undergoing scaling and polishing.Participants were allocated to Group A (standard care; n=19), Group B (passive patient-selected music listening via headphones; n=21), and Group C (clinically indicated N 2 O/O 2 conscious sedation; n=5; non-randomised reference group).Groups A and B were assigned by simple randomization, whereas Group C was not randomised.HR was recorded by fingertip pulse oximetry throughout the appointment and summarised at three predefined procedural phases: before the procedure (T0), during scaling (T1), and at the end of the session (T2).Results Mean HR values (bpm) at T0, T1, and T2 were 98.0, 90.0, and 95.3 in Group A; 95.7, 84.5, and 80.1 in Group B; and 97.6, 79.2, and 73.4 in Group C, respectively.Compared with Group A, Group B showed a greater reduction in mean HR from baseline to the end of the session (-15.6 vs. -2.7 bpm).The clinically indicated N 2 O/O 2 reference group showed the lowest mean HR values during scaling and at the end of the session.These comparisons were descriptive only.Statistics Data were analysed descriptively.HR values were summarised as group means at the three predefined procedural phases, and changes across time points were reported as differences between group mean values.No formal inferential statistical testing was performed because of the exploratory pilot design and limited sample size.Conclusions In this exploratory pilot sample, passive patient-selected music listening was associated with a different pattern of HR change across the dental hygiene session compared with standard care, with lower mean HR values observed during scaling and at the end of the session.Because HR is a non-specific physiological parameter and no validated psychological or behavioural measure of dental anxiety, fear, or cooperation was collected, these findings should be regarded as preliminary and hypothesis-generating and should not be interpreted as evidence of an anxiolytic effect.Larger controlled studies incorporating standardised procedures, subject-level analyses, and validated psychological and behavioural outcomes are needed.

Source: European Journal of Paediatric Dentistry

DOI: 10.23804/ejpd.2026.2799