Non-pharmacological Behavior Management Research Articles

It’s Lame to Tame-Children with Special Health Care Needs

Children with the special health care needs may often be a challenge to the dentist in their management. These children with the special needs often find themselves difficult to cooperate during treatment, creating a harmful situation. Many techniques have been implicated in modern pediatric dentistry for the management of these children. It is generally believed that the non pharmacological behavior management techniques cannot be used successfully with these children. Physical restraints and pharmacological management techniques are the most commonly used strategies. This paper highlights that the proper use of non-pharmacological behavior management techniques can be very effective to teach these children coping skills that may enable to receive a comprehensive dental care over their life time.

Effect of oral-transmucosal midazolam sedation on anxiety levels of 3-4 years old children during a Class II restorative procedure.

Aim:A double-blind randomized control trial was conducted to assess the effect of oral-transmucosal midazolam sedation on changes in anxiety levels of precooperative children during a Class II amalgam restorative procedure.Methodology:A sample of 40 healthy, American Society of Anesthesiologists I, children aged 3-4 years having at least one carious primary mandibular molar requiring a Class II amalgam restoration with no previous dental history were randomly divided into experimental and control groups comprising of 20 children each. The children in the experimental group (Group I) received 0.5 mg/kg body weight of midazolam mixed in strawberry syrup and those in the control group (Group II) received the same syrup mixed in saline, 15 min prior to the restorative procedure. Routine nonpharmacological behavior management techniques were used in both groups. The anxiety levels were recorded using Venham's anxiety scale at the start and end of each procedural step.Results:There was a significant (P < 0.001) reduction in the anxiety levels of children in the experimental group on entry into the operatory compared with the control group. Introduction of each fear evoking stimuli showed a somewhat similar increase in anxiety levels in the two groups. In spite of a similar trend, the anxiety levels remained much lower in Group I than in Group II.Conclusion:Midazolam in conjunction with behavior management is more helpful in relaxing the child initially than behavior management alone, thus increasing the chances of successful and easy accomplishment of further treatment steps.

Non-pharmacological behaviour management

From time to time, dental health professionals will come across anxious patients, especially young children. Although pharmacological management can be used to ease the anxiety, there are many non-pharmacological behaviour techniques that can be used in the first instance.

Paediatric dentistry in the new millennium: I. Quality care for children.

This is the first in a series of articles on paediatric dentistry in the new millennium. The aim of the series is to present a structured approach to the management of children and the common dental problems that are encountered in paediatric patients. Starting with the philosophy of 'quality care', as presented in this article, the series is intended to update readers on modern approaches to both pharmacological and non-pharmacological behaviour management, restorative techniques and the management of common developmental defects that present in both primary and young permanent teeth. Finally, preventive approaches that are easy to administer in a general dental practice will be discussed.