Abstract
Objective: To evaluate the association between child's behavior and level of maternal and child anxiety during dental care. Material and Methods: The sample consisted of 100 children aged 6-11 years of both gender, scheduled for the first dental appointment at the dental clinic in a private school of Salvador, Brazil. The emotional reactions of patients were evaluated before the dental visit through the Venham Picture Test (VPT) instrument of anxiety evaluation. Mothers completed a specific questionnaire (Corah anxiety scale) to assess their anxiety about dental treatment. During dental care, prophylaxis and clinical examination by DMF-T and dmf-t indexes were performed. The child’s behavior during the dental treatment was evaluated by the Frankl's Behavior Rating Scale. Fisher's exact test and chi-square were used to evaluate the association between variables (α = 5%). Results: It was observed that 24.0% of children presented anxiety according to VPT. There was a significant association between level of anxiety and pain and dental caries as the main dental complaint (p <0.001), and between child's behavior and variables maternal anxiety (p = 0.01) and childhood anxiety (p <0.001). Conclusion: It could be concluded that there was a positive association between child's non-cooperative behavior during dental care and maternal and child anxiety.
Highlights
Among the most observed feelings in the dental office, the most worrying are fear and anxiety, because these feelings trigger different types of behavior that interfere in the professionalpatient relationship and in the construction of the trust relationship [1].In dental treatment, experiences and influences suffered by the child are quite significant for the positive or negative response to treatment
The emotional reactions of patients were evaluated before the dental visit through the Venham Picture Test (VPT) instrument of anxiety evaluation
It could be concluded that there was a positive association between child's non-cooperative behavior during dental care and maternal and child anxiety
Summary
Experiences and influences suffered by the child are quite significant for the positive or negative response to treatment. Factors such as previous medical history, parents' behavior with their fears and anxieties, number of siblings, history of toothache, absence of dental experience or the young age are decisive factors in the establishment of fear, anxiety and attitudes of the child patient in the dental office [2,3,4,5,6]. The presence, severity or extent of dental caries alone is not related to anxiety [5], but pain caused by the carious process and its treatment, even with minimally invasive approaches, has a positive association [7,9]
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