2008 Volume 46 Issue 5 Pages 578-584
In dental treatment of children who are in development of communication ability, the dentists must precisely grasp the psychological state of patients. Although the relationship between nasal skin temperature and psychological state has been reported, their studies experimented only in stress condition. In the recovery stage, the relationships still have not been investigated. Therefore, in this study, we used ice stimulation to subjects' palms as a stressor and tried to clear the relationships between nasal skin temperature and psychological state in the recovery stage from the stress condition. The perception levels and anxiety levels during the experiment period were examined using Time series Visual Analog Scale (T-VAS) and state-trait anxiety inventory-form (STAI) respectively. The nasal skin temperature was measured with thermography every 5 minutes. As a result, when levels of pain and anxiety increased by the ice stimulation, the nasal skin surface temperature decreased. On the other hand, when the pain and anxiety were taken away after the ice stimulation was stopped, the nasal skin temperature increased and reached the same temperature as before the stimulation. These results suggest strongly that the psychological state of pain and anxiety could be predicted by the measurement of nasal skin temperature.
