The Effect of Sound in the Dental Office: Practices and Recommendations for Quality Assurance—A Narrative Review

Sound is inextricably linked to the human senses and is therefore directly related to the general health of the individual. The aim of the present study is to collect data on the effect of two dimensions of sound, music, and noise from an emotional and functional point of view in the dental office and to perform a thorough review of the relevant literature. We collected articles from the databases PubMed and Google Scholar through keywords that were related to noise and music in healthcare. Important information was also extracted from articles on the web and official websites. Screening of the relevant literature was performed according to accuracy and reliability of the methodology tested. A total of 261 articles were associated to sound and music in healthcare. Ninety-six of them were the most well documented and were thus included in our article. Most of the articles associate noise with negative emotions and a negative impact on performance, while music is associated with positive emotions ranging from emotional state to therapeutic approaches. Few results were found regarding ways to reduce noise in a health facility. If there is a difficulty to find effective methods of reducing the daily noise-inducing sounds in the dental office, we must focus on ways to incorporate music into it as a means of relaxation and therapy.