EVDS student offers emotion-based design to improve children’s experience at the dental office
April 12, 2008
Great Article from EVDS
In the future, children will associate a trip to the dental office with feelings of empowerment, fun and relaxation rather than with fear, anxiety or pain, if Georgia Houston has her way.
Houston, a graduate student in industrial design at the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Environmental Design, recently completed her master’s degree project which proposes a dynamic new approach to addressing the negative emotions children often associate with dental visits. Houston hopes her holistic design alternatives promote a more positive dental experience and, ultimately, improved long-term dental health.
Houston worked with Calgary-area pediatric dentists, a child therapist and other designers to apply the Faculty of Environmental Design’s holistic and interdisciplinary perspective to explore how pediatric dentistry could benefit from improved design options ranging from child education, empowering toys, furniture and dental office layouts.
The need for a better patient-dentist experience is pervasive in North America.
In the United States,
- 40% of the population is apprehensive about visiting the dentist.
- 20% of adults describe themselves as highly anxious.
- 5% of the population avoids oral health appointments altogether because of extreme anxiety.
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