Hypnodontics

Mesmerism, surgery and the name hypnosis

The sources reviewed trace hypnosis in medicine to eighteenth-century mesmerism, named for the Austrian physician Franz Anton Mesmer, whose theory of animal magnetism a royal commission in Paris discredited in 1784. A medical-humanities essay reports that the first documented use of mesmerism in surgery came in Paris in 1829, when a surgeon removed a breast tumor while the patient showed no signs of discomfort, and that surgeons in Britain and India, among them James Esdaile, later described operations under mesmeric states.

The same essay states that the Scottish surgeon James Braid supplied the name hypnosis in 1843, and that after ether anesthesia was used in 1846 chemical anesthetics replaced mesmerism in operating theaters by the 1850s. The essay concerns surgery in general and does not describe dental work. The sources reviewed do not identify the first dentist to use hypnosis.

Dental hypnosis societies in the twentieth century

According to the history page of the British Society of Medical and Dental Hypnosis, the idea of a hypnosis society was first raised at a British Dental Association meeting in May 1952 by a dentist, and a committee then formed the British Society of Dental Hypnosis. It became the Dental and Medical Society for the Study of Hypnosis in 1955 as medical practitioners joined, and took its present name in 1968.

The society's account adds that a Scottish branch was founded in 1959 and became an independent society in 1991, and that the national society merged with the British Society of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis in 2004 to form the British Society of Clinical and Academic Hypnosis. This is the society's own history, and no independent history of it was reviewed.

Hypnodontics and dental hypnosis

Hypnodontics and dental hypnosis are used for the application of clinical hypnosis in dentistry. A 2016 case report in an endodontic journal uses hypnodontics in its title, while the systematic review by Wolf and colleagues searches under the phrase dental hypnosis. The review's authors describe hypnosis as a state of focused attention and reduced peripheral awareness with an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion, a definition they attribute to Division 30 of the American Psychological Association.

Wolf and colleagues also report that there is no standard hypnosis therapy for dental use. Trials they reviewed used live hypnosis, audio recordings, relaxation training and combinations with cognitive behavioral therapy, which makes the label cover a range of methods. Suggestibility, also called hypnotizability, and earlier experience of hypnosis are described as additional influences on results.

Relation to other Machipedia pages

Hypnodontics is a member of the family described on the Machipedia page Hypnotherapy, which this page does not duplicate. The page Clinical Hypnosis covers hypnosis delivered by clinicians more generally, and Self-Hypnosis covers practice without a hypnotist. Wolf and colleagues report that audio-recorded self-hypnosis was the most common technique in the dental anxiety trials they reviewed, so the boundary between the two is not sharp in this literature.

How the literature describes it

Reviewers describe visualization, suggestion and hypnosis strategies as ways to bring a patient to a level of focused attention at which suggestions can be received, with the effect said to depend on how the method is applied and on the empathy of the dentist. Related approaches that appear alongside hypnosis in dental trials include progressive muscle relaxation and guided imagery, which have their own Machipedia page, Guided imagery. A case report describes eye fixation, progressive muscle relaxation and guided imagery over three sessions for a patient with severe gagging.

Where it is used in the dental visit

In the trials reviewed here hypnosis was given before or during treatment and in addition to usual dental care. Children received it during local anesthetic injection, pulpotomy or tooth extraction, and the comparison groups received conventional behavior guidance, relaxation, nitrous oxide or no added intervention. None of the trials replaced the dental procedure or its anesthesia with hypnosis. This page does not describe techniques or scripts.

Anxiety, phobia and avoidance

Reviewers report that hypnosis is used in dentistry to reduce fear and anxiety, to limit avoidance of dental care and to reduce felt pain. The introduction to a systematic review also cites authors who report less bleeding during extractions and faster wound healing, claims that the review does not itself test.

Pain, gagging and bruxism

The abstract of a review of periodontal care lists uses described in the literature: anesthesia, analgesia, anxiety management, treatment of bruxism, control of gagging, changes in salivary flow and control of bleeding. Beyond that list, the sources reviewed here contain single case reports of hypnosis for severe gagging during root canal treatment and for nocturnal bruxism treated by a psychologist.

Adults: dental anxiety and phobia

A 2024 review of randomized trials in adults covered 173 trials, 67 of which were pooled in 14 analyses. It reports moderate-certainty evidence for hypnosis in reducing state anxiety during oral surgery (standardized mean difference -0.31, 95% confidence interval -0.56 to -0.05), and stronger support for cognitive behavioral therapy for trait anxiety and for psychotherapy for dental phobia. Only the abstract was read.

A 2022 review of 19 clinical trials published between 1979 and 2021 pooled only five studies, which gave contrasting results. Its authors describe the findings as promising but note studies with small or slightly negative effects, heterogeneous methods, 15 different anxiety measures and the impossibility of double blinding, and call for more consistent methods.

Children and dental injections

A Cochrane review of 26 trials with 2,435 children found that all but one were at high risk of bias, that data could not be pooled, and that evidence was insufficient to name a best approach to increase acceptance of local anesthetic. For hypnosis it found one trial of 29 participants with less pain, rated very low certainty. A network meta-analysis of 61 trials ranked music first for anxiety and hypnosis first for heart rate, and its authors say the limited number of articles requires confirmation.

Individual trials in children vary. A small trial of 30 children reported lower anxiety and pain scores during anesthesia, while another reported only a marginal heart rate difference with no difference in observer-rated scores. Trials of 60 children each reported lower anxiety, pain or analgesic need with hypnosis for pulpotomy and extraction, and a three-arm trial found hypnosis and nitrous oxide similar on several measures.

Gagging, bruxism and limits

A PubMed search for hypnosis with gagging and with bruxism returned case reports and narrative reviews, and the sources reviewed here include no controlled trial for either use. Case reports describe improvement but cannot show cause.

Reported harms and misconceptions

The Cochrane review notes that none of its included trials reported adverse events as an outcome, and Wolf and colleagues report one trial in which hypnosis neither reduced nor increased anxiety. The sources reviewed do not report serious harms from hypnosis in dental trials, but the absence of reports is not evidence of absence. A survey of 200 patients at one clinic found that 72.5 percent believed a person could become permanently trapped in a hypnotic state, a belief the study treats as a misconception.

Supplement, not substitute

In the evidence reviewed, hypnosis was added to dental care and not used in place of examination, anesthesia or treatment. Reviewers describe cognitive behavioral therapy as having more consistent support for dental phobia, and people with intense fear or avoidance may need assessment by a dentist or mental health professional. Dental pain, swelling or other symptoms need dental assessment regardless of any anxiety support.

Who delivers it

The British Society of Medical and Dental Hypnosis, based in Scotland, offers a certificated course in two weekend modules, open to doctors, dentists, nurses, midwives, dental nurses and psychologists, designed to teach basic hypnosis as a complement to medical and dental practice. The 2026 course fee was 595 pounds. The page describes a basic course and no register, and the sources reviewed did not find a statutory training standard for dentists who use hypnosis. Machipedia pages Biofeedback and Mindfulness cover other non-drug approaches sometimes used for dental anxiety.