An Interactive Augmented and Virtual Reality System for Managing Dental Anxiety among Young Patients: A Pilot Study

Dental anxiety is a common health problem among children. It creates major issues for patients, parents, and dental professionals. Children who cancel or otherwise miss their appointments generally do so due to fear of the unknown lack understanding what they can expect from environment treatment when arrive there. Some distraction interventions are already used by professionals, such as using clown doctors, watching cartoons, utilizing tell–show–do (TSD) technique. Still, common, fail attend (FTA) rates at clinics high. Familiarizing children with setting procedures in advance may help manage anxiety. This paper aims managing children’s simple, attractive, age-appropriate way through use augmented reality (AR) virtual (VR) technologies. The developed system named “Dr. Barea”. targets Arabic-speaking aged 7 10 years old. uses model–view–control (MVC) its architectural design pattern. proposed solution consists three main sections: 360° VR video that simulates clinic environment, an educational description on tools AR technology, interactive stories educate about hygiene. performance was evaluated unit, integration, performance, user acceptance testing. results demonstrate solution, which performed reasonably, achieved usability requirements engaging learning information A feasibility study 16 conducted evaluate effectiveness system. Child Fear Survey Schedule—Dental Subscale (CFSS-DS) measure level. T test differences between groups, Fisher’s exact compare distributions gender age groups. CFSS-DS index group decreased after consultation (35.04 ± 9.14 before 32.32 8.32 consultation, p = 0.041). implications this shall be beneficial