Home › Anxiety › NCT06912854

Sensory Adapted Dental Environments to Enhance Oral Care for Children With and Without Dental Fear and Anxiety

Who can join

Ages 6 to 12 · All sexes · Healthy volunteers welcome

Inclusion Criteria:

* Male or female, aged 6 through 12 years, of any race/ethnicity;
* English- or Spanish-speaking child and parent;
* Have experienced at least one prior dental cleaning;
* If recruited from the emergency department, Emergency Severity Index (ESI) must be level V or IV (to ensure that greater severity PED patients not be recruited).

Exclusion Criteria:

* Dental cleaning within the previous 4 months (i.e., not in need of cleaning);
* Plan to move out of the area within 6 months;
* Intellectual or developmental disability (e.g. autism; highly co-morbid with sensory processing difficulties);
* Disability that would interfere with oral care (e.g. cleft lip/palate, cerebral palsy, genetic/endocrine/metabolic dysfunction) or medical condition that would place the child at increased risk during the study (e.g., uncontrollable seizures);
* Daily use of anti-cholinergic drugs (i.e., interferes with EDA recordings);
* Presence of orthodontia (braces) or with a plan to get braces in the upcoming 6 months

About the study

This study is a randomized clinical trial investigating the effectiveness of a Sensory Adapted Dental Environment (SADE) alone and together with a video-based modeling (VBM) component (VBM-SADE), compared to a regular dental environment (RDE) and/or VBM alone, to reduce anxiety, distress behavior, pain, and sensory discomfort during a dental cleaning in children with and without dental fear and anxiety.

What is being tested

• Sensory Adapted Dental Environment (other)
• Video-based Modeling (other)

Sponsor: University of Southern California · Participants: 312 · Started: May 9, 2025

Contact the study team

• Leah Stein Duker, PhD, OTR/L · Phone: 323-442-0371
• Riley McGuire, OTD, OTR/L, MA · Phone: 323-442-0672

Official record on ClinicalTrials.gov — NCT06912854

Locations in the U.S.

Conditions

• Anxiety

From ClinicalTrials.gov, data retrieved Nov 15, 2026. Each study sets its own eligibility; the study team decides who can join.