Pressure on the body from a weighted blanket can relieve anxiety at the dentists office. For years, ...

1. Relax Anxiety at the Dentist with a Weighted Blanket by
Eileen Parker
Pressure on the body from a weighted blanket can relieve anxiety at the dentists office. For years,
many people have enjoyed the weight from the heavy vest worn while getting x-rays at the dentists
office as commonly known from a multitude of subjective accounts. Now they can get that relaxing
feeling by wearing a weighted blanket.
A media release about a new study to be published in the Journal of Pediatrics says that a relaxing
environment, including weight on the body, significantly relieves stress at the dentists office. Dr.
Michele Shapiro of the Issie Shapiro Educational Center and colleagues from Hebrew University in
Israel studied the effects of the sensory environment on a childs anxiety levels during two separate
routine cleaning visits to the dentist.
The release reads, For many children, a trip to the doctor or dentist is a stressful experience. The
sensory environment (i.e., the sounds, smells, and lights associated with the clinical setting) can
cause a childs anxiety levels to rise. This is especially true in children with developmental disabilities
who may have difficulty understanding the unfamiliar clinical environment.
This reaction is similar to Sensory Processing Disorder. SPD is a This Could Be For You – Coming
From Experts on Oral Health neurological disorder involving smell, hearing, pain, body position,
taste, visual, temperature, and the bodys position and movement. The brain receives all this stimuli
but cant make sense of it so it can react normally.
The release continues, The first trip included the typical sensory experiences of a dental office,
including fluorescent lighting and the use of an overhead dental lamp. During the second trip,
however, the researchers created a sensory adapted environment that modified the experience of
the children. No overhead lighting was used, a slow moving repetitive color lamp was added, and the
dental hygienist wore a special LED headlamp that directed the light into the childs mouth. The
children listened to soothing music and were wrapped in a heavy vest that created a hugging
effect.
The hugging effect is a type of sensory calming called proprioceptive input, which is pressure on the
muscles and joints. Proprioceptive input sends signals to the brain that cause serotonin to be
released, which is the neurotransmitter in the brain that makes people feel happy. An increase in
serotonin causes natural melatonin to be released in the brain giving even more of a feeling of
calm.

2. A more comfortable way to induce the hugging effect is by using a soft and pliable weighted blanket.
Parents and dentists can use a toddler- or child-size weighted blanket on the child to soothe the
anxiety from dental procedures.
Dentists and parents can get these weighted blankets from Cozy Calm at http://www.CozyCalm.com