Influence of music on the behavior of children during dental care

ABSTRACT Objective: To evaluate the role of music as a distraction technique to minimize anxiety during dental care in children aged 7 to 9 years when submitted to local anesthetic procedure. Method: This study was carried out in the Dentistry Module of the State University of Southwestern Bahia, located in the city of Jequié, Bahia, Brazil. It was performed through the application of the Facial Image Scale, measurement of heart rate and blood pressure with the aid of the digital sphygmomanometer at two different times during pediatric dentistry care with and without the influence of classical music. Data were tabulated in the Statistical Package for Social Sciences software, version 21.0, expressed as medians and interquartile range. For inferential statistics, the Shapiro-Wilk normality test was used and the analysis of the effect of music was calculated using the paired T-tests and Wilcoxon, considering a significance level of 95%. Results: The sample consisted of 7 children, mostly male, with a median of 8 years of age. Regarding the psychophysiological variables, no significant variations were observed compared to before and after in the groups with music and without music. Conclusion: In this study, no differences were found regarding the reduction of anxiety in the group in which music was used. Additional studies with a representative sample are needed.