Combining alprazolam with systematic desensitization therapy for dental injection phobia.

To determine whether a benzodiazepine facilitates systematic desensitization, 144 subjects with dental injection phobia received systematic desensitization in combination with placebo or one of two doses of alprazolam (0.5mg or 0.75mg). Systematic desensitization therapy included computer-controlled presentation of digitized video segments followed by in vivo exposure segments, culminating in an actual dental injection. Subjects advanced to the next hierarchy segment when low anxiety was reported during a segment. Alprazolam and placebo groups progressed at the same rate. The 0.75mg group had elevated heart rates while watching video segments compared with placebo. In a subsequent behavioral avoidance test (during which subjects were randomized to a new drug condition), there was no indication that state-dependent learning had occurred. Dental fear was reduced similarly in all groups for 1 year after study completion. No advantage was found to combining alprazolam with systematic desensitization for dental injection phobia.

Comparison of United States and Korean dental hygiene students using the Hiroshima university-dental behavioural inventory(HU-DBI).

OBJECTIVE: To compare cross-national differences of dental health behaviour among dental hygiene students. DESIGN: Cross-cultural differences. SETTING: United States (USA) and Korea. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: One hundred and twenty-six dental hygiene students in USA and 246 in Korea were surveyed using the Hiroshima University-Dental Behavioural Inventory (HU-DBI) (in English and Korean versions respectively). RESULTS: There were considerable differences in oral health behaviour between USA and Korean dental hygiene students. Of great significance were findings that while only a small proportion of the USA students (1%) reported gum bleeding when they brushed their teeth, 37% of the Korean students did so (P<0.001). Furthermore, only 19% of the Korean students had been told by their dentist that they were performing a high level of plaque control, contrasted with 76% of the USA students. Logistic regression model showed that it was possible to distinguish USA students from Korean peers with a probability of more than 90% by using the HU-DBI. CONCLUSIONS: There were considerable differences in dental health attitudes/behaviour among dental hygiene students in the two countries. The variation in the favourable attitudes/behaviour toward oral health appeared to reflect the students' clinical training experience in Korea.