Study: Reiki therapy before wisdom tooth removal did not reduce anxiety, but pain scores slightly lower

The study in JOMS was intended to evaluate whether Reiki — a nonpharmacologic, touch-based therapy that purports to facilitate energy transfer — affects perioperative anxiety in patients undergoing surgical removal of an impacted lower third molar, a common procedure in oral and maxillofacial surgery.

Researchers conducted a single-blind, randomized controlled trial involving 180 adults ages 18 to 45 undergoing treatment at Ege University Faculty of Dentistry in Izmir, Turkey. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three preoperative groups: Reiki therapy, sham Reiki (a placebo control that mimics treatment) or no intervention. Researchers measured anxiety using validated questionnaires and recorded postoperative pain daily for seven days using a visual analog scale; they also tracked analgesic use during the first postoperative week.

Key findings

• Preoperative anxiety:No statistically significant differences were observed in anxiety levels between patients who received Reiki, sham Reiki or no intervention.
• Postoperative pain:Average postoperative pain scores were lower in the Reiki group compared with no intervention. Pairwise comparisons did not show a significant difference between Reiki and sham Reiki.

The authors note that additional well-designed clinical trials are needed to better define Reiki’s role in oral and maxillofacial surgical care.

Oral and maxillofacial surgeons use evidence-based approaches to manage anxiety and pain associated with wisdom tooth extraction, tailoring care to each patient’s medical history, procedure complexity and individual needs. This study adds clinical trial data on a low-risk complementary intervention while underscoring that Reiki did not significantly reduce preoperative anxiety in this clinical setting.

The authors of “Does Reiki Therapy Reduce Preoperative Anxiety and Postoperative Pain in Third Molar Surgery? A Randomized Controlled Trial” are Meltem Ozden Yuce, PhD; Birant Simsek, PhD; Omer Faruk Dadas, PhD; and Candan Efeoglu, PhD.

The full article can be accessed at JOMS.org/article/S0278-2391(25)00758-X/abstract

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