Clinical evaluation of hypnotism-induced local anesthesia in endodontics

In some cases in dentistry, despite an injection of local anesthetic material, the teeth with irreversible pulpitis do not become numb, or the use of common local anesthetic material is contraindicated for the patient. Therefore, in these cases an alternative treatment, especially hypodontia, the use of hypnosis in dentistry, can be introduced. The aim of this study was to determine the success rate of hypnotism in producing anesthesia in root canal therapy.Subjects and This study was conducted as a clinical trial on 21 male and female volunteer patients, who referred to the department of endodontics of Mashhad Dental School for endodontic treatment of vital teeth with irreversible pulpitis. Examination forms were completed for all the patients. The patients were excluded from the study if they had any other concurrent diseases. Then, if the patient were satisfied with participation in this study, the consent forms were signed. In the presence of the patient's companion, the patient underwent hypnosis and the necessary time to reach suitable numbness was recorded. Next, the patients were conditioned to a key phrase. In the second session, with the use of a key conditioning word, hypnosis was induced more rapidly and the time to reach numbness was again recorded. The numbness was checked and confirmed by a specialist in endodontic unaware of type of intervention. When the appropriate level of numbness was present, the patient underwent endodontic treatment. The results were analyzed by Mann Whitney U, Fisher's Exact and Wilcoxon Sign Rank tests. The results showed that 16 patients (76.2%) reached suitable deep numbness while 5 patients (23.8%) did not reveal a suitable response. The time in which hypnotism was induced in the second session of treatment (3.8 minutes) was less than the first session (23.09 minutes). There was no significant difference between male and females in giving a positive feedback to hypnotism. Hypnosis was successful in inducing numbness for root canal therapy of teeth in 76.2% of the cases, therefore, it can be useful in patients with irreversible pulpitis in whom local anesthesia is not effective.