You might want to recommend acupuncture to your dental phobic patients, according to the results of a small study done by--amazingly-- the British Dental Acupuncture Society. Twenty patients, all of whom were extremely anxious about undergoing necessary dental treatment and all of whom had unsuccessfully tried other remedies like sedatives, biofeedback, and hypnosis, were treated with acupuncture that targeted two specific acupuncture points on the top of the head. All 20 significantly reduced their anxiety and were able to be treated.
Authors of the study, published in a recent issue of Acupuncture in Medicine, not surprisingly recommend additional larger studies to confirm the value of acupuncture in these sorts of cases. But, they suggest that acupuncture "may offer a simple and inexpensive method of treatment."
You can check out the abstract. Who knew?