The effect of yoga in stress reduction for dental students performing their first periodontal surgery: A randomized controlled study

CONTEXT: The dental students experience a lot of stress, which increase when they perform their first surgical procedure. Yoga as an anxiolytic tool in anxiety reduction has been practiced over centuries in India. AIM: To assess the efficacy of yoga in reducing the state trait anxiety of dental students before their first periodontal surgery performance. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A randomized controlled study using a two-way split plot design (pre-post-test) was conducted in the department of periodontics, Pacific Dental College, Udaipur, India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred clinical dental students who were ready to perform their first periodontal surgery were selected. Students were randomly assigned to two groups and were given a 60-min session on stress reduction. Group A, yogic intervention group, were instructed to do yoga and their performances were monitored for a period of one week and Group B, control group, were given a lecture on stress reduction without any yoga instructions. The investigator who was unaware of the groups had taken the state trait anxiety score of the students three times a) before assigning them to each group, b) prior to the surgical procedure and c) immediately after the performance of surgery. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Analyses of variance (ANOVA) by SPSS V.16. RESULTS: The statistical results showed a significant reduction in the VAS and state trait anxiety of Group A compared to Group B (ANOVA; P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This study concludes that Yogic breathing has a significant effect on the reduction of state trait anxiety level of dental students.