Virtual Reality Storytelling Versus Storybook Reading for Dental Anxiety in Children

Many children feel anxious before dental treatment. This study compares two ways of helping children feel calmer while waiting for their dental visit: watching a dental story through virtual reality (VR) glasses, or listening to the same story read aloud by the dentist from a printed storybook. The story is in Arabic and follows a girl named Amira during her first dental visit. The story is identical in both groups, so the only difference is how it is delivered. Healthy children aged 6 to 10 years will be randomly assigned to one of the two groups. The main outcome is the child's heart rate, measured before and after the story as an objective sign of anxiety. Children's dental fear will also be assessed with two child-friendly scales, and parents' own dental anxiety will be measured to see whether it is related to their child's anxiety. The study aims to find out whether VR storytelling differs from a traditional storybook in its effect on children's anxiety before dental treatment.