It is known that the anxiety and sympathetically-medicated hypertension induced by dental procedures can be lessened by the hearing of music.
In the present study, we measured the physiological effects of music-listening, especially on digital prethysm.ography (PTG) and the heat rate (HR), and compared them with the effects induced by the administration of indenolol hydrochloride, a β-blocker for pharmacological anti-stress treatment. The stress was imposed by intraoral injection of a physiological saline solution at the gingival-buccal border near the upper right premolar. The subjects cosisted of 54 volunteers of sound mind and body. 10 heard music (titles ‘Memory’, ‘Misty’ etc.) and 27 were administered with 10 mg of P. O. indenolol hydrochloride prior to the stress-inducing treatment. 17 recoived only the stress-inducing treatment. The first group heard the music on headphones 5 mins before and after the stress-inducing treatment; the second group received the indenolol 60 mins before the stress-inducing treatment; and the third group simply left after the treatment.
Their PTG and HR were measured at the times of seeing the syringes, intraoral sterilization, and before, during just after and 1 min-5 mins after the stress-inducing treatment.The PTG of first and second groups showed 70-80% and 40-50% declares, respectively, up to the start of the stressinducing treatment. Both groups ther returned to about 100%(the normal level) at 5 mins after the stress-inducing treatment. The third groups had not yet returned to this level at 5 mins after the treatment. The HR of the first and second groups was hardly influenced by the stress-inducing treatment, while that of the third group rose markedly towards the time of treatment. These results indicate that music-listening, can ease the mental and physical stresses of dental procedures.
