Awareness of Aromatherapy in Healing Stress and Body Pain among Dental Students

Abstract

Aromatherapy is a style of practice in medicine where essential oils or other scents are used. These are either applied or directly inhaled to attain therapeutic benefit. Also they are used either by distillation with water or steam, or from the epicarp of citrus fruits by a mechanical process or by dry distillation. The mechanism of action in aromatherapy is unknown, but recent studies have shown that aromatherapy is also beneficial for a few health problems. A range of essential oils are found to possess various degrees of antimicrobial activity and are believed to own antiviral, nematicidal, antifungal, insecticidal, and antioxidant properties. Hence this treatment is also known as essential oil therapy. At the current situation of COVID -19 there is a prevalence of stress due to lockdown. This mental stress can adversely affect the physical and mental well-being of each and every individual. In order to overcome this stress this aroma therapy can be used. The main aim of the study is to assess the awareness of the use of aromatherapy in healing stress and body pain. This was a cross sectional study conducted among the dental students through a questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of 10 questions and was circulated among the student population. The statistical analysis was done with the help of SPSS software version 2.0. The results concludes that most of the participants are aware of aromatherapy and the found it beneficial in healing stress and body pain.