[A study to determine possible success variables in the treatment of gag reflex patients].

A disproportionately sensitive gag reflex can hamper adequate dental treatment. Because an evidence-based treatment for this condition is lacking at this moment, a study of patients and success variables for the treatment was carried out. The study was based on the clinical records of and interviews with 40 people who had been treated in a Centre for Special Dental Care (CBT) because of extreme gag problems two years earlier. It was found that the gag complaints of half of the respondents had disappeared or become manageable, while those of the other half had not changed. It did not matter which intervention had been adopted. In order to determine how patients can best be treated and which patients can best be treated, research among larger patient samples is needed.