Music therapy significantly reduces pain, systolic blood pressure, and respiratory rate in patients undergoing third-molar extraction surgery, offering an effective nonpharmacological approach to improve perioperative outcomes.
- Music therapy lowered systolic blood pressure in wisdom teeth surgery patients compared to control groups (p = 0.021).
- Patients receiving music therapy had lower pain scores during immediate postoperative recovery (p = 0.035).
- Music therapy significantly reduced respiratory rate compared to patients without the intervention (p = 0.015).
- The study included 42 patients in a randomized, blinded, controlled clinical trial published in the International Journal of Dentistry.
Music therapy may contribute to the reduction of pain and influence physiological parameters, including respiratory rate, in patients undergoing third-molar extractions, according to a study recently published in the International Journal of Dentistry.
The findings indicate that music therapy may be an effective nonpharmacological strategy to improve perioperative outcomes for these patients, the authors wrote.
“These conclusions were based on the changes in vital signs observed in patients who were submitted and not submitted to music therapy during the mandibular third molar exodontia surgical procedure, thus showing a positive impact from this use,” wrote the authors, led by Edson Luiz Cetira Filho of the department of dentistry at Christus University in Brazil (Int J Dent, October 13, 2026, 2182937).
Patients who undergo wisdom teeth surgery often experience anxiety, pain, and have a poorer oral health quality of life, all of which compromise an individual’s recovery and well-being. Approaches beyond medication, such as music therapy, have shown promise for perioperative outcomes.
To explore music therapy’s potential effect on patients, a randomized, blinded, controlled clinical trial that included 42 patients was conducted. Participants were separated into two groups: one that received music therapy and the other that did not.
The visual analog scale was used to measure pain, and the dental anxiety scale measured anxiety. The Oral Health Impact Profile assessed oral health-related quality of life, according to the study.
In the group that received music therapy (p = 0.021), the mean systolic pressure was much lower compared to the control patients, the authors wrote.
Furthermore, the respiratory rate was much greater in the control group than in the music therapy group (p = 0.015). However, there was no significant difference in temperature and oxygen saturation between the two groups, they wrote.
Although pain perception was the same in both groups, the music therapy group presented lower pain scores than the control group (p = 0.035) during the immediate postoperative period, the authors wrote.
There were limitations, including the study’s sample size, they wrote.
“Music therapy contributed to a decrease in systolic pressure, a decrease in pain, and a decrease in the respiratory rate in the patients in the group that underwent the intervention,” Filho and colleagues wrote.
