Audio-visual storytelling for reducing dental anxiety in Iranian children: a randomized controlled trial.

PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to compare the effectiveness of the audio-visual storytelling method and the "tell-show-do" (TSD) technique on reducing children's dental anxiety. METHODS: A controlled clinical trial study was performed with two experimental groups and a control group. Forty-five 6-to-9 years old children were randomly divided into the groups. Venham Picture Test and Facial Image scale were used as measurement tools. Repeated measures analysis of variance and Bonferroni post hoc test were used to evaluate the interventions. RESULTS: The results of the post hoc test showed that there was a significant difference between the mean scores of the control group and storytelling group according to both anxiety scales (p = 0.001). Also, there was a significant difference between the mean scores of the control group and TSD group according to both anxiety scales (p = 0.01). CONCLUSION: The audio-visual storytelling appears an effective, applicable method for reducing children's dental anxiety. However, it is significant to select an appropriate story and also to consider the dentist-patient relationship.

Accuracy of computerized automatic identification of cephalometric landmarks by a designed software.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to design software for localization of cephalometric landmarks and to evaluate its accuracy in finding landmarks. METHODS: 40 digital cephalometric radiographs were randomly selected. 16 landmarks which were important in most cephalometric analyses were chosen to be identified. Three expert orthodontists manually identified landmarks twice. The mean of two measurements of each landmark was defined as the baseline landmark. The computer was then able to compare the automatic system's estimate of a landmark with the baseline landmark. The software was designed using Delphi and Matlab programming languages. The techniques were template matching, edge enhancement and some accessory techniques. RESULTS: The total mean error between manually identified and automatically identified landmarks was 2.59 mm. 12.5% of landmarks had mean errors less than 1 mm. 43.75% of landmarks had mean errors less than 2 mm. The mean errors of all landmarks except the anterior nasal spine were less than 4 mm. CONCLUSIONS: This software had significant accuracy for localization of cephalometric landmarks and could be used in future applications. It seems that the accuracy obtained with the software which was developed in this study is better than previous automated systems that have used model-based and knowledge-based approaches.