A text message sent by a dental practitioner to a patient following initial placement of orthodontic appliances can reduce the severity of the patient's pain and anxiety, according to a study in the Angle Orthodontist (July 2013, Vol. 83:4, pp. 605-610).
Researchers from Seton Hill University Center for Orthodontics randomly assigned 39 orthodontic patients to one of two groups matched for age, gender, and bracket type (self-ligating versus conventional). The subjects completed baseline questionnaires to determine their levels of pain and anxiety before initiating treatment.
Following the first appointment, the study participants again completed the pain questionnaire and anxiety inventory at the same time every day for one week. One group received a structured text message showing concern and reassurance, while the second group received no postprocedure communication.
The researchers found that mean pain intensity increased and self-reported discomfort was longer in the control group than the text message group, demonstrating that "a text message sent from an orthodontic office following initial appliance placement resulted in a lower level of patient's self-reported pain."
