On the occasion of the annual congress of the French Dental Association (ADF), Pierre Fabre Oral Care, leader in oral hygiene in pharmacies, and HypnoVR, a French start-up specialising in the development of medical hypnosis solutions using virtual reality, announce the signing of a partnership with a view to offering dental surgeons HypnoVR©, an innovative device for treating stress and anxiety in the treatment room.
Under the terms of the agreement, this partnership aims to accelerate the adoption of the HypnoVR device by dental practitioners through Pierre Fabre Oral Care’s extensive network of partner healthcare professionals. With this new device, PFOC is also expanding its service offering by exclusively promoting this innovative device.
For shared peace of mind between patients and dentists
According to a study(2) published by the Union Française des Soins Bucco-Dentaires, anxiety during dental care affects one in two patients. This fear may also lead some patients not to consult or to delay treatment as long as possible. A forerunner in bringing serenity and well-being to the dentist’s office, Pierre Fabre Oral Care is not new to the field. In 2016, the laboratory launched the first serious game “I love my dentist”, a programme that enabled dentists and their teams to better manage patient anxiety in the waiting room. Today, Pierre Fabre reiterates its commitment by offering its network, HypnoVR, an alternative to pharmacological sedation for the greater benefit of patients and dental practitioners.
This completes our portfolio of oral care and hygiene products by providing a service to healthcare practitioners. We are very pleased with this partnership, which has seduced us both by its innovative aspect and by the comfort and serenity it brings to patients and practitioners.
Dr Pierre-Marie Voisin Medical Marketing Manager of Pierre Fabre Oral Care.
HypnoVR, an innovative device designed by two anaesthetists and hypnopractors
Created by doctors Chloé Chauvin and Denis Graff and Nicolas Schaettel, an expert in new technologies, HypnoVR© is a software based on medical hypnosis techniques, whose interest has already been demonstrated in the treatment of dental anxiety(3) , and associated with virtual reality, a tool that has also been shown to be of interest in the management of pain in the dental surgery(4) . HypnoVR thus combines and potentiates the benefits of a practice and a tool to make it a medical device capable of inducing and maintaining a patient in a modified state of consciousness throughout a stressful and anxiety-provoking procedure.
We started from the observation that 80% of the population is receptive to hypnosis, and our ambition is to democratise access to this practice thanks to virtual reality and to make it a non-medicinal alternative to other sedation and analgesia solutions. HypnoVR has been proven in several studies to reduce stress and anxiety for the comfort of patients and dentists. Nicolas Schaettel -Co-Founder of HypnoVR.
Thanks to an easy to use software platform, the practitioner will be able in a few seconds to select a hypnotic text specific to his procedure, to choose the duration of his session and to offer his patient the choice between different captivating visual universes and several original music therapy pieces before installing the device on the patient to launch the session.
Patients can enjoy a unique multi-sensory experience isolated from the anxiety-provoking stimuli of the treatment room while the practitioner provides care in complete serenity.
For more than three years, the HypnoVR© software has been able to demonstrate its benefits in various medical indications and procedures through retrospective clinical studies presented at medical congresses, particularly in paediatric surgery(5) , dental surgery(6) and medically assisted procreation(7) . The HypnoVR© software is a class I medical device and is reserved for adults and children over the age of 13. It is contraindicated for psychiatric or psychological disorders such as claustrophobia, for psychotic disorders, for uncontrolled epilepsy and for visual/auditory disorders that prevent the use of virtual reality.
1- In particular the Equimolar Mixture of Oxygen and Nitrous Oxide (MEOPA): a colourless, odourless gas composed of a mixture of 50% oxygen and 50% nitrous oxide acting by inhalation. This mixture is anxiolytic and provides surface analgesia.
2- Pratiques Dentaires(UFSBD) – June 2013 Dealing with anxiety in general practice
3- Barbara Atzori, Rosapia Lauro Grotto , Andrea Giugni, Massimo Calabrò, Wadee Alhalabi and Hunter G. Hoffman* Virtual Reality Analgesia for Paediatric Dental Patients
4- Halsband, U., Wolf, T.G., Functional Changes in Brain Activity after Hypnosis in Patients with Dental Phobia, Journal of Physiology – Paris (2016),
5- T. Arat MD, Guilbert MD, C. Chauvin , N. Tuzin , I.Talon, P.Diemunsch Influence of hypnotic support by virtual reality on the anaesthetic strategy in children undergoing surgery for implantable chamber insertion or removal in ambulatory care: retrospective study
6- F Clauss, L Bertagnolio, S Jung, M Strub, P Sadonès, C Chauvin and M-C Manière Virtual reality protocol for the management of anxious patients: clinical applications and results of a pilot study conducted at the Unité Fonctionnelle d’Odontologie Pédiatrique de Strasbourg
7- Vinee G, Faitot V, Chauvin C, Graff D, Diemunsch P Pilot study for the use of hypnosis in virtual reality during oocyte punctures. Poster Journée Francophone de l’Hypnose, February 2019
Join the movement!
More than 300 institutions are already using HypnoVR to improve their patients’ experience of care.
