The Effect of Counselling in Preoperative Anxiety Among The Patients Undergoing Third Molar Surgery

Abstract

Objective: To determine the effect of counselling on pre-operative anxiety among the
patients undergoing third molar surgery.
Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted in the department of maxillofacial
surgery, Punjab Dental Hospital and Mayo Hospital, Lahore from September, 2013 to December,
2013. A total of 100 patients planned for third molar surgery by the maxillofacial surgeon on the
basis of symptomatology and investigations and also having baseline anxiety above the cutoff
point on Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) were selected and randomly divided into the
control and the experimental groups. The pre- operative anxiety was assessed objectively and
subjectively on Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) and Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS) (Urdu
version) respectively at the time of booking the patient for the operation (session 1) and scoring
was done. Detailed counselling was done to the experimental group in addition to providing
information as usual which included routine briefing which was given to all the patients of both the
groups. Preoperative anxiety was assessed again on the same scales in the same manner in both
the groups just before the surgery (session 2) and the results were compared.
Results: A statistically significant difference was found in pre-operative anxiety scores of both
the experimental and control groups between session 1 and session 2. In the experimental
group, preoperative anxiety was significantly reduced after intervention (p-value=0.00) as
compared to the control group in which it was significantly increased (p- value=0.00) just before
the surgery.
Conclusion: Counselling is an effective method for reducing preoperative anxiety in patients
undergoing third molar surgery