An analysis of the phenomenon of increased parental participation during the child's dental experience.

The role of the parent during their child's dental experience, in contemporary society, has changed during the past decade and should be addressed by pediatric dentists. Included in this matter are issues regarding risk management and practice management. Behavioral pediatric dentistry is in flux, much like the world that it serves; there appear to be schisms within the profession regarding one aspect of this: the presence of parents in the dental operatory. Presented here is an analysis of the paradigm-shifts in society since World War II, when a postfigurative parenting strategy was in vogue. An explication of noted anthropologist Margaret Mead's descriptions of this and two subsequent parenting styles, including configurative (or transitional) and prefigurative (contemporary) are presented. They are analyzed in terms of parental attitudes concerning trusting their child to authority figures, including the dental clinician. This emerging protective instinct is termed "social hypertrophy", based on social biologist Edward O. Wilson's work. Dentists are encouraged to understand parental attitudes and avoid unnecessary conflict.