CClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT06922058Updated Apr 10, 2025

The Use of Virtual Reality Glasses to Reduce Anxiety in Fixed Orthodontic Treatments in Children Aged 10-15 Years

An interventional study of Virtual Reality Glasses in Anxiety, sponsored by Biruni University. Completed at 1 site in Turkey. Open to participants aged 10 Years to 15 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-04-10.

Sponsored by Biruni University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 1 year 2 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Jan 2024, registered Mar 2025).
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
26
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
10 Years to 15 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This study aims to manage anxiety and fear experienced by young patients during orthodontic treatments through the use of virtual reality glasses, ensuring a more comfortable procedural experience.

The study included twenty-six patients who visited the faculty of dentistry. Thirteen patients in the study group were shown animation through virtual reality glasses during the procedure. The 13 patients in the control group underwent standard treatment procedures without virtual reality glasses. Both groups were asked questions from the CASI and Trait Anxiety Inventory at the beginning of the procedure, State Anxiety Inventory at the beginning and at the end of the procedure, and pulse rate, saturation and VAS values were recorded.

The implementation of virtual reality glasses in orthodontic treatments has been shown to effectively manage anxiety by distracting patients from what is actually happening.

This study shows that virtual reality goggles reduce the anxiety experienced by patients during orthodontic treatment. These results offer a different treatment process that can increase treatment comfort in clinical practice.

Read the detailed description

Orthodontic treatments are treatments that have less knowledge and experience among patients compared to other dental procedures, and therefore have a more uncertain process for patients. The tools and materials used in orthodontic treatments also differ from the materials that patients are familiar with using in other dental procedures. Patients aged 10-15 years were identified as an age group in which fixed orthodontic treatment could be started for the age range of our study group, who had less experience in dental treatments compared to adults, and therefore the level of anxiety was mostly higher. In addition, it has been observed that the bracket placement session, which is the first session of fixed orthodontic treatment, is longer than the sessions in which other orthodontic procedures are performed, and during this period, patients in the age group we have chosen tend to question the remaining time and want to check their mobile phones, and it is believed that virtual reality (VR) glasses can be utilized to enhance the comfort of the procedure.

02

Conditions studied

  • Anxiety

Browse trials for

Keywords

  • Virtual reality
  • orthodontics
  • anxiety
  • pulse oximeter
  • visual analog scale
  • STAI
  • CASI
03

In context

Anxiety Disorders

4,868 studies on the registry are indexed under Anxiety Disorders; 1,390 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 26 is below the median of 80 across 4,174 interventional studies indexed under Anxiety Disorders.

Browse Anxiety Disorders studies →

Lead sponsor

Biruni University is the lead sponsor of 172 studies on the registry; 43 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
10 Years to 15 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

  • Children who needed and accepted fixed orthodontic treatment,
  • Children who had not received orthodontic treatment before
  • Children who did not have any psychiatric or systemic disorders

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Children who had previously undergone orthodontic treatment
  • Children with psychiatric or systemic disorders.
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
26 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Patients treated with VR glasses

    These patients are asked anxiety tests before and after the treatment. They are watching animation on VR glasses during the first day of the treatment. Their values are recording by pulse-oximetry.

    Device: Virtual Reality Glasses

  • No intervention
    Patients treated without VR glasses

    These patients are asked anxiety tests before and after treatment. Their values are recording by pulse-oximetry.

Interventions

  • DeviceVirtual Reality Glasses

    Virtual reality glasses haven\'t used in orthodontics in another clinical study.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Pulse

    Throughout the session, pulse levels were recorded using a pulse oximeter at three points: before, during, and after the session. The normal pulse rate is between 60-100 beats/minute in children and adolescents aged 11-17 years. In our study, the values obtained in measurements made according to time were compared with each other.

    Time frame: 1 hour

  2. Oxygen Saturation

    Throughout the session, saturation levels were recorded using a pulse oximeter at three points: before, during, and after the session. Oxygen saturation in children is within the normal range when read between 94-100%. In our study, the data obtained in measurements made according to time were compared with each other.

    Time frame: 1 hour

Secondary outcomes

  1. Visual Analog Scale

    Patients rated their anxiety levels on the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) before and at the end of the session. On the scale, it can be scored between 1 and 10. 1 represents the lowest level of anxiety and 10 represents the highest level of anxiety.

    Time frame: 1 hour

  2. Stait-Trait Anxiety Scale

    Before and after the session, patients were asked the questions of stait-trait anxiety scale. In the State Anxiety Scale, the answer options are (1) Never, (2) A little, (3) A lot and (4) Completely; the options in the Trait Anxiety Scale are (1) Almost never, (2) Sometimes, (3) Very often and (4) Almost always. There are two types of statements in the scales: Direct expressions express negative emotions; reversed expressions express positive emotions. When scoring these second type of statements, those with a weight value of 1 turn into 4 and those with a weight value of 4 turn into 1. In direct statements, answers with a value of 4 indicate that anxiety is high. In reversed statements, answers with a value of 1 indicate high anxiety. The scores obtained from both scales theoretically range between 20 and 80.High scores indicate a high level of anxiety and low scores indicate a low level of anxiety.The average score level determined in the applications varies between 36 and 41.

    Time frame: 1 hour

  3. Children Anxiety Sensitivity Index

    Patients were assessed using the Children Anxiety Sensitivity Index before the session. It is an eighteen-item self-report scale. It questions children's feelings after internal and external stimuli that may cause anxiety. It is organised as a 3-point Likert-type scale. It is scored as not at all (1), a little (2), very much (3), which can be easily understood even by children as young as 7 years old. The minimum score is 18, the maximum score is 54. Low scores indicate low anxiety, high scores indicate high anxiety.

    Time frame: 1 hour

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Biruni University Dentistry Faculty Departments of Orthodontics
    İstanbul, Zeytinburnu 34015, Turkey
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Yes — The data will be shared on reasonable request to the corresponding author.

Supporting information: Study protocol, Sap, Icf, Csr

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Apr 10, 2025, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06922058
Lead sponsor
Biruni University
Responsible party
Fatma Betül Yucel (Principal Investigator, Biruni University) — Principal investigator
First posted
Apr 10, 2025
Start date
Jan 11, 2024
Primary completion
Dec 13, 2024
Completion
Dec 29, 2024
Last update
Apr 10, 2025

Study contacts

Fatma Aslı Konca Taşova, Assistant Professor
study director · Uskudar University

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Apr 2025. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.

Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Start the discussion