Journal of Dental Specialities 2023;11(1):36–42 Content available at: https://www.ipinnovative.com/open-access-journals Journal of Dental Specialities Journal homepage: https://www.jdsits.in/ Original Research Article Comparison and evaluation of efficacy of olfactory and taste distraction in managing anxious pediatric patients during radiovisiography Anam Khushboo Khan 1, *, Gauri Kalra 1 , Bhavna Gupta Saraf 1 , Neha Sheoran 1 , Tanya Kakkar 1 , Pallavi Lakhanpal 1 1 Dept. of Dental, Sudha Rustagi College of Dental Sciences and Research, Faridabad, Haryana, India ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 05-02-2023 Accepted 10-02-2023 Available online 28-03-2023 Keywords: Aromatherapy Taste distraction Anxiety Distraction techniques Behaviour shaping Pediatric dentistry ABSTRACT Introduction: Due to dental anxiety & fear, young children tend to be more anxious even at the times of basic clinical examination and investigative procedures such as taking IOPAs, however, with the advent of RVGs, taking X-rays have become less cumbersome. Aim: A study was planned for comparison and evaluation of olfactory distraction utilizing aromatherapy, taste distraction and conventional method (Tell-Show-Do) in managing fearful children aged 4-7 years during radiovisiography (RVG). Materials and Methods: A total of 45 children (4-7 years old) were included and 3 groups (15 each) were formed and radiographs were taken with the help of RVG (radiovisigraphy) under aromatherapy, with taste distraction and using control- Tell Show Do technique. Pre- and Post- anxiety scores were measured using physiological measures- pulse and respiratory rate, oxygen saturation and Venham’s picture test. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21, IBM Inc, was used for statistical analysis. Results: Both the test groups (aromatherapy and taste distraction group) when compared with control group, exhibited noteworthy post-treatment variation in anxiety level scores. No statistical significance was seen amongst taste distraction and aromatherapy group, although aromatherapy exhibited superior results in comparison to taste distraction. Conclusion: Both taste distraction using lollipop/candy and aromatherapy employing lavender essential oil are efficacious in management of anxiety among children, however aromatherapy unveils a better result in comparison. To conclude, a combination or individual use of less invasive techniques may be executed effectively in handling pediatric dental patients. This is an Open Access (OA) journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms. For reprints contact: reprint@ipinnovative.com 1. Introduction Dental fear and anxiety are one of the foremost problems in young children visiting a dental clinic are regarded as hindrances in offering superior dental care. It is defined as “an abnormal fear or dread of visiting the dentist for preventive care or therapy and unwarranted anxiety over dental procedures”. 1 Increased caries level have been linked to dental anxiety and behaviour management problems in * Corresponding author. E-mail address: khushbookhan31008@gmail.com (A. K. Khan). children. 2 In pediatric dental setup, the varied anxiety provocation factors found are like that of the sound of a drill, sight of injection, smell of cut dentin and those of some pungent smelling medicaments like eugenol, and vibration associated with drilling instruments. On a child’s first dental visit, besides, clinical examination, taking radiographs may pose a challenge to a pediatric dentist. However, use of dental radiographs, or x-rays in pediatric patients play a vital role for the purpose of diagnosis and treatment planning. They offer a more comprehensive look at the overall child’s https://doi.org/10.18231/j.jds.2023.008 2320-7302/© 2023 Innovative Publication, All rights reserved. 36