Abstract
AIM AND BACKGROUND: Pain and anxiety during dental procedures can be skillfully tackled using effective and efficient behavior management. The current systematic review aimed to assess how effectively binaural beats (BB) work to reduce dental pain and anxiety in children as well as adults. METHODS: An electronic search of the databases was conducted; authors independently extracted the data from nine studies included in the review. Clinical trials included in the review were the studies that reported the effectiveness of BB used during dental procedures for reducing dental pain and anxiety among children and adults. The Cochrane risk of bias tool was used for evaluating the risk of bias. Meta-analyses were performed using the fixed and random effect models. Heterogeneity was quantified with I (2) statistics. Reduction in the dental pain and anxiety scores [as measured by visual analog scale (VAS)/Venham's picture test (VPT)] was considered the chief outcome. RESULTS: A total of 580 studies related to the topic were identified. Studies carried out for procedures other than dental as well as duplicates were eliminated, and following analysis of full-text articles, nine studies were included for systematic review. Overall, the results showed high risk of selection and detection bias. Dental pain and anxiety scores showed significant difference when comparing pre- and postintervention values. When comparing BB with controls, there was significant reduction in dental anxiety (DA) scores, while dental pain reduction showed inconclusive results with control (no intervention) and significant reduction with positive control. CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Dental pain and anxiety appear to be alleviated by BB. Clinicians may view BB as a viable nonpharmacological treatment for dental pain and anxiety. HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Shukla AD, Subhadra HN, Unnikrishnan S, et al. Effectiveness of Binaural Beats in Reducing Dental Pain and Anxiety among Children and Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2025;18(8):1023-1030.