Temple attains $2.59 million grant to combat dental anxiety

October 1, 2018 · Morgan Zalot

Temple University's Kornberg School of Dentistry has received a $2.59 million grant from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research — part of the NIH — to study dental anxiety reduction. This represents the largest NIH award the school had ever received at the time, and marks a landmark partnership between dentistry and psychology researchers.

Marisol Tellez Merchán, associate professor and residency director of Dental Public Health at Kornberg, collaborates with Richard G. Heimberg, a psychology professor at Temple's College of Liberal Arts who directs the Adult Anxiety Clinic. The five-year clinical trial will involve 450 patients at Temple's Faculty Dental Practice in North Philadelphia. Researchers developed an online intervention featuring video-based exposure therapy — patients select three anxiety-triggering procedures and view a progressive series of videos, from animated overviews to the patient's own perspective during actual treatment.

According to Tellez Merchán: "As long as anxiety is greater than pain, you see avoidance." She emphasizes that postponed dental care typically necessitates more invasive procedures. Dean Amid I. Ismail noted this represents 12 years of planning and multiple pilot studies culminating in this major clinical trial launch.