distraction

Using an Eye Massager to Control Anxiety Before Wisdom Tooth Extraction

by

An interesting article titled “Massage Therapy to Control Anxiety Before Extraction of an Impacted Tooth,” appears in Cureus in October 4, 2022, written by Kunusoth R, Colvenkar S, Alwala A, et al. (vol. 14, no. 10, pp. 29893). The article discusses a simple technique to manage anxiety during dental visits using an eye massager. Many patients experience anxiety when seeing a dentist, see for example the posts Changes in Dental Anxiety over Time and Dental Anxiety and Fear: Impact on Oral Health. Dental anxiety can be caused by such things as a prior past negative dental experience, fear of needles, and a fear of gagging or choking. These patients are more likely to cancel their appointments and may be more difficult to treat. Various treatment options for dental anxiety exist such as described in the posts Do Wisdom Teeth Surgery … Read more

Headache Causes Difficulty Tuning out Visuals

by

A recent study from researchers from Scotland’s Glasgow Caledonian University has come out with implications for headache sufferers. The research suggests migraine sufferers even when they do not have a headache may process visual cues better in an environment with few visual distractions. The researchers asked migraine sufferers to pick out a small disk of light with visual noise was present which severed as a visual distraction. Without the visual noise, people prone to migraine could identify the light disk about as well as the control group. When the noise was added, migraine sufferers performed significantly worse. The study demonstrated migraine sufferers with auras were the actually the most affected by the addition of visual noise. This research has practical implications for those who suffer from headache and migraine. It may thus be best to avoid environments with a lot … Read more