The effects of informed consent format on preoperative anxiety in patients undergoing inferior third molar surgery

Objectives: To evaluate the effect of informed consent format on preoperative anxiety of patients. Material and Methods: We performed a prospective study (91 patients) undergoing lower third molar extraction. Patients were distributed into three groups. Informed consent for surgery was obtained through a written document, an oral interview or a video recording. Afterwards, patients were asked about their anxiety level and the effect the informed consent had had on it. Results: Whereas the information conveyed both in oral and written formats relieved the patient to some extent (in a scale of -3 to +3) 0.97±1.21 and 0.29±0.97, respectively), the video recording increased patient’s anxiety in…