Clonazepam for the Management of Anxiety Associated with Oral Surgery: A Randomized Double-blind Controlled Trial

Statement of Problem: Anxiety is one of the most common challenges which affect both the patient and the surgeon throughout dental procedures. Thus, there has been growing interest in the application of sedatives in dentistry. Purpose: This study evaluated the efficacy of clonazepam in reducing anxiety prior to oral surgery. Materials and Method: The participants of this, randomized controlled trial, study included 60 patients who referred to the Department of Oral and Maxillof-acial Surgery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. They were randomly allocated to either a single 2 mg dose of Clonazepam or a placebo one hour prior to the surgery. The participants and the outcome assessors were blind to the inter-vention. Levels of anxiety were recorded using Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and measuring blood pressure (BP), pulse rate and arterial oxygen saturation percentage. After collecting the data, the Chi-square test was run and then the data was analyzed.Results: The participants in the treatment and control groups were matched for age, sex, education, marital status and employment status ( p >0.05). All anxiety determinants (VAS, BP, pulse, and oxygen saturation rates) changed significan-tly one hour after the administration of clonazepam ( p <0.05).Conclusion: Clonazepam is an effective anxiolytic drug with minimal side effects which can be used to reduce anxiety in dental patients.