Acupuncture To Help Dental Anxiety?

Do you suffer dental anxiety? If so your not alone, about 30% of the adult population in countries world wide experience dental anxiety and there maybe a new method to help calm you down before your treatment. Researchers have found evidence that acupuncture could help reduce anxiety at the dentist!

More than 120 trials across England, China, Spain, Portugal and Germany were identified as having investigated the effects of acupuncture on patients with dental anxiety but only six trials with about 800 patients were eligible for review.  Researchers used a points scale to measure anxiety and the results show that anxiety levels were reduced by eight points when acupuncture treatment was given.

Professor of Acupuncture, Hugh MacPherson, at the University of York's Department of Health Sciences said "If acupuncture is to be integrated into dental practices, or for use in other cases of extreme anxiety, there needs to be more high quality research that demonstrates that it can have a lasting impact on the patient. Early indications look positive but there is still more work to be done."