The Tapping Evidence Base
Anxiety · Phobias

The effect of Emotional Freedom Techniques on patients with dental anxiety: A pilot study

Saleh, B., Tiscione, M., Freedom, J. · Energy Psychology Journal · 2017

Randomized trial👥 8 participants⚖️ vs. reading a magazine (non-treatment control)Preliminary✓ Source-checked📍 United States
In plain English. Eight dental patients with anxiety about dental visits either did four minutes of EFT tapping or read a magazine while imagining being in the dentist's chair. The tapping group's anxiety dropped more than five times as much as the magazine-reading group's. Despite the tiny sample, the result lines up with larger EFT anxiety studies and a meta-analysis, suggesting even a very brief tapping session can help.

What they found

8
people took part

The EFT group's mean anxiety score dropped 35% (from 72 to 46) after a four-minute tapping intervention, compared to only a 6% drop in the control group, with a statistically significant Time effect (F = 6.76, p = .04).

How the study worked

Who took partdental patients with dental anxiety (n=8)
What they didIn a randomized controlled trial, participants were randomly assigned to receive tapping or a comparison condition, then measured and compared.
Compared withreading a magazine (non-treatment control)
Measured withshort-form State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-S)

💡 Where this could help

Think of someone who has avoided the dentist for years out of sheer dread, letting problems worsen because the anxiety feels unmanageable. If a four-minute technique like this one proves out, dental offices could teach it once in the waiting room, no extra appointment needed, giving patients something free they can keep using themselves before every future visit.

🔬 What to study next

Given how fast this four-minute intervention worked, a compelling next step would be pairing the anxiety scale used here with objective measures, heart rate variability or salivary cortisol taken right before the dental procedure, to see whether a few minutes of tapping in the waiting room produces a measurable drop in physiological stress reactivity during the procedure itself, not just a felt one. A larger trial testing this as a routine waiting-room offering, taught once by dental staff, could also clarify how durable the calming effect is across repeat visits.

The full record

DesignRandomized trial
Participants8 people
Populationdental patients with dental anxiety
Comparison groupreading a magazine (non-treatment control)
Outcome measuresshort-form State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-S)
JournalEnergy Psychology Journal
Year2017
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
MethodEFT / tapping
Publication typeStudy / trial
Verification✓ Confirmed against the primary source

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Cite this study

APA

Saleh, B., Tiscione, M., & Freedom, J. (2017). The effect of Emotional Freedom Techniques on patients with dental anxiety: A pilot study. Energy Psychology Journal. https://doi.org/10.9769/EPJ.2017.9.1.BS

This record is part of the Tapping Evidence Base — an openly-sourced, fully-referenced directory of the research on EFT/tapping. Explore more studies on Anxiety · Phobias

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THE TAPPING EVIDENCE BASE Anxiety 8 participants WHAT THEY FOUND The EFT group's mean anxiety score dropped35% (from 72 to 46) after a four-minutetapping intervention, compared to… Randomized trial · 8 participants Saleh · 2017 · evidence.thetappingsolution.com