Clinical Research Studies

A Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Treatment (SMART) design will be used to assess the effectiveness of a virtual stepped-care (progressive dosing) approach to dental fear, relative to treatment as usual (TAU). The cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) based treatment consists of 2 steps: 1. a light-touch intervention (a self-administered mobile app taking 1 hour for completion) and 2. a 1 hour one-on-one virtual session with a mental health (MH_ professional. Only participants who do not substantially benefit from the lighter touch intervention (i.e., treatment nonresponse) will be eligible for randomization to the higher dose (virtual one-on-one session). For each step of the intervention (app or one-on-one session) relative to treatment as usual, we hypothesize that participants will show greater declines in self-reported dental fear and improved oral health-related quality of life at post-treatment and follow-up periods. Additionally, we hypothesize that participants in the treatment groups will show less behavioral avoidance of the dentist (i.e., more consistent attendance at preventative and regular cleaning visits) for a one-year period following treatment completion. De-identified attendance records will be collected from dental practices.