One-session treatment to reduce dental fear in underserved children and teens
Official title: One session treatment for dental phobia in an underserved population
Funded at University of Texas Rio Grande Valley · NIH-11251509 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project offers a single-session therapy to help children and adolescents—especially in Hispanic communities—overcome fear of the dentist.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Texas Rio Grande Valley NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Edinburg, United States) |
| Project start | September 6, 2022 |
| Project end | April 30, 2030 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $757,387 |
| NIH project number | 4UH3DE031247-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11251509 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are children and adolescents (roughly 6–20 years old) from predominantly Hispanic/Latino communities who have strong fear of the dentist that leads them to avoid care.
✕Less likely to help
People outside the trial's target age range or those with severe, complex psychiatric conditions that require more intensive treatment may not benefit from a one-session approach.
What this research studies
You would be invited to a single, focused exposure therapy session designed to address dental fears, delivered with dental professionals present to make the experience realistic and safe. The project will compare this one-session treatment to another active treatment to see which helps more with anxiety and future dental visits. Most participants will be children and adolescents from a predominantly Hispanic community served by the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Researchers will also measure how changes in learning and fear responses relate to improvements in anxiety and dental avoidance.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could help young people get over dental fear quickly and improve their dental care and quality of life.
How similar studies have gone: One-session exposure therapy has shown good results for other specific phobias in children and adolescents, but dental and medical phobias have not been well studied with this method until now.
Where this research is happening
-
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Edinburg, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Seligman, Laura D — University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
- Study coordinator: Seligman, Laura D
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.