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Supporting Your Practice

Dog-Assisted Therapy in Dentistry

Dr. Anne Gussgard, Associate Professor in Periodontology at the University of the Arctic of Norway, spoke with Dr. John O’Keefe about her experience using dog-assisted therapy to help alleviate patients’ anxiety during dental treatment. 

Highlights

Animal-assisted therapy has been available for some time. Dogs are used most commonly, but other animals such as cats and horses are also commonly used. In dentistry, dogs are usually the animal involved since there are strong physiological effects on humans when they pet dogs. For example, there is a drop in blood pressure, heart rhythm and cortisol while there is an increase in dopamine and oxytocin levels.

When looking for types of therapy dogs, the type of dog is less important than the way in which the dogs have been bred and raised in the first 8 weeks of their lives. Dr. Gussgard’s dog, Barley, is specifically trained to alleviate anxiety in dental patients. When on duty, the dog’s demeanour changes and he wears a special collar and socks to alert others that he is working. Patients interact with Barley before or after treatment and in some cases, he can sit in the chair with the patient or beside the chair. Often, Barley sleeps in the chair or near it which has a calming effect on patients and some patients also appreciate his weight and warmth.

 

1 Comment

  1. David Tang May 29, 2018

    I’m interested in following your research. I recently passed the evaluation for animal therapy (Pet Partners – previously Delta) with my golden doodle. I am a Pediatric Dentist in Houston, TX. Since there is no established protocol on animal therapy in Dentistry, I am wary of just introducing my dog into animal therapy in dentistry. There is a psychologist that teaches at University of North Texas in Denton, Texas that actually teaches courses in Animal therapy.

    David Tang
    Board Certified Pediatric Dentist

    Reply

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