Anxiety control of dental patients by clinical combination of acupuncture, Bi-Digital O-Ring Test, and eye movement desensitization with sedation via submucosal route.

We examined clinical applications of the eye movement (EM) component of Eye Movement Desensitization (EMD) on fearful dental patients who have histories of traumatic dental experiences. We also used Bi-Digital O-Ring Test (BDORT) to select the proper dosage of sedative to minimize the adverse side effects. For patients who did not respond well to EM, we used BDORT to select the proper sedative medication and its dosage. In certain difficult cases, we supplemented these techniques with acupuncture to augment the sedative effects. Findings were based on the clinical impressions and assessments of both the patients and the operating team. Results showed that EM, although effective in enabling patients to undergo non-invasive dental procedures such as clinical examination and simple prophylaxis, had only limited beneficial effect with invasive procedures such as extraction, drilling, and injections, etc. We also found that BDORT greatly reduced adverse side effects of sedatives such as hypertension, hypotension, hypoxia, tachycardia, bradycardia, nausea, and vomiting. For most apprehensive patients, we found that EMD and acupuncture combined with BDORT predetermined dosage for the submucosal sedation enabled these patients to undergo the complete dental treatment. The authors try to explain the mechanism of BDORT and EM in terms of visual awareness (or consciousness) and preferred patterns, where neurons in the brain respond to the actions and/or direction of movement. The author...
Source: Acupuncture and Electro-Therapeutics Research - Category: Complementary Medicine Tags: Acupunct Electrother Res Source Type: research