This investigation was conducted to determine the effect of video-taped role modeling on patient-reported level of anxiety at the beginning of dental treatment and the long term effects of the modeling tape as evidenced by appointment cancellations and failure rate. Subjects completed the state portion of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) to establish base line data and were then randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) role modeling video-tape; (2) travelogue video-tape; and (3) control group. Posttreatment measures of state anxiety and perceptions of feeling relaxed were analyzed using an analysis of variance. Statistically significant differences in favor of the modeling tape were obtained. (Author)