Anxiety and Sleep; The Compounding Impact on Endodontic Therapy

Abstract

Objective: To understand association of sleep and anxiety with pain during root canal therapy.

Methodology: Total of 500 patients were included at endodontic care in Islam Dental College, Sialkot from August - December 2020, who were seeking endodontic care at Islam Dental College, Sialkot. Responses were measured during the endodontic therapy, segregating pain into mild, moderate and severe pain. Association between sleep and anxiety with level/type of pain, considering level of significance at or below 0.05 was noticed

Results: The independent variable, anxiety, reported pain on the visual analog scale as: Mild (M = 2.01, SD = .853, n = 250), Moderate (M = 2.86, SD = .870, n = 158) and Severe (M = 3.42, SD = .952, n = 92) and sleep reported pain on the visual analog scale as: Mild (n = 250), Moderate (n = 158) and Severe (n = 92). Levene’s Test for anxiety showed the variance of homogeneity, p-value = 0.007. The ANOVA was for anxiety was significant p = 0.000. Levene’s test for sleep showed p-value = 0.141. The significance of ANOVA for sleep showed p = 0.680.

Conclusion: Assessment of sleep and anxiety are fundamental predictors when it comes to pain management during endodontic treatment. It is of high significance the patients should be educated and managed both in dental and life style modification perspectives. Yes, we have techniques and equipment that help achieve better pain control, but risks are associated with each. A better approach would be to focus on life style elements that will improve overall quality of endodontic care.