CONTROL OF ANXIETY IN THE DENTAL ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

Patients' anxiety in the dental environment is recurrent, and it is essential that the dentist is able to diagnose and effectively control it, in order to avoid complications during care. The aim of the present study is to present the main methods of controlling anxiety in the office. This is a narrative literature review, with a search for articles in the databases: Scielo, Pubmed, VHL and Google Scholar, published between 2012 and May 2022, in Portuguese, English and Spanish. The keywords used were anxiety, dental clinic, dental treatment consulted in DECS. The results demonstrate that there is a set of pharmacological methods (such as benzodiazepines, cannabidiol, herbal medicines, nitrous oxide and antihistamines, among others), and non-pharmacological methods (such as music, hypnosis and iatrosedation, mainly), which can be chosen by the surgeon-dentist in the management of the disorder. It is concluded that anxiety is frequent and can bring harm, and it is necessary for the dental team to be aware of the main forms of management, in order to choose the most appropriate method for each case.