Swapnali Dilip Shinde1, Rahul J Hegde1. 1. Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University Dental College and Hospital, Sector 7, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Identifying anxiety levels of parents accompanying their children can help the clinician in designing the behavior management strategies for the child. In addition, continued dental experience can improve the child's response, indicating desensitization to dental stress. AIMS: To evaluate the influence of parental anxiety on children's behavior and understanding children's dental anxiety after sequential dental visits. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 175 children of age 6-12 years, 98 were boys and 77 were girls, were randomly selected from various schools of Navi Mumbai. Parental dental anxiety was assessed using the Corah's dental anxiety scale (DAS), and child anxiety level was measured using children fear survey schedule-dental subscale (CFSS-DS). STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Pearson's correlation coefficient analysis, ANOVA, and Friedman test. RESULTS: There is a significant positive correlation (P < 0.0001) between DAS scores and CFSS-DS scores at all three dental visits. The mean ± standard deviation, CFSS-DS scores at the first, second, and third dental visits are (34.07 ± 11.97), (31.04 ± 10.94), and (27.26 ± 9.39), respectively, showing the score is more during the first dental visit than the second and third visits. CONCLUSION: The dental anxiety levels in parents may influence the anxiety levels of children and also all children exhibited an improvement in the levels of dental anxiety from the first dental visit to the subsequent dental visits.
BACKGROUND: Identifying anxiety levels of parents accompanying their children can help the clinician in designing the behavior management strategies for the child. In addition, continued dental experience can improve the child's response, indicating desensitization to dental stress. AIMS: To evaluate the influence of parental anxiety on children's behavior and understanding children's dental anxiety after sequential dental visits. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 175 children of age 6-12 years, 98 were boys and 77 were girls, were randomly selected from various schools of Navi Mumbai. Parental dental anxiety was assessed using the Corah's dental anxiety scale (DAS), and childanxiety level was measured using children fear survey schedule-dental subscale (CFSS-DS). STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Pearson's correlation coefficient analysis, ANOVA, and Friedman test. RESULTS: There is a significant positive correlation (P < 0.0001) between DAS scores and CFSS-DS scores at all three dental visits. The mean ± standard deviation, CFSS-DS scores at the first, second, and third dental visits are (34.07 ± 11.97), (31.04 ± 10.94), and (27.26 ± 9.39), respectively, showing the score is more during the first dental visit than the second and third visits. CONCLUSION: The dental anxiety levels in parents may influence the anxiety levels of children and also all children exhibited an improvement in the levels of dental anxiety from the first dental visit to the subsequent dental visits.