| Summary: | 碩士 === 長庚大學 === 職能治療學系 === 99 === Anxiety induced from dental treatment can become a serious problem, especially for those with special needs. Application of deep touch pressure (DTP), one of the sensory adapted techniques, has been suggested to provide the positive effects on anxiety modulation for disabled populations. However, empirical and theoretical evidences linked to the clinical effects of DTP are relatively rare in the combination of behavioral and physiological aspects. The aim of this cross-over intervention trial study designs to investigate the behavioral and physiological effects of the DTP when the subjects undergo the dental treatment. The present study recruited 19 healthy subjects receiving DTP derived from the weighted blanket (WB), and 19 disabled subjects, who were sub-classified to positive trend (D+) and negative trend (D-), received DTP from the Papoose board (PB) for DTP applications. The quantitative analysis of behavioral assessments and physiological measurements, including the electrodermal activity (EDA) and heart rate variability (HRV), were conducted to understand the modulation of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), the orchestration of sympathetic (SNS) and parasympathetic (PsNS) nervous systems. Although there is no significant differences in the SNS response both in Disabled and Healthy groups, significantly higher level of PsNS activity were observed under the stress conditions with DTP intervention. The results suggested that the activation of PsNS plays a critical role to understand the processes of ANS modulation. By considering the increase of PsNS activity, herein, the present study provides the physiological evidences to support the positive clinical effects of DTP for stress conditions in dental environments. Future studies suggested to explore the time-serial effects, the dosage of DTP intervention, and the patterns of ANS modulation in various populations are needed for the advance application in this aspect.
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