Human figure drawings as a measure of the child's response to dental visits.

The HFD as obtained in this study was a measure of the child's response at the beginning of the dental visit. HFD scores correlate with the five other measures of the child's response as well as those measures correlate with each other. The subscore of six items was an acceptable substitute for the twenty items scoring index and was superior to any single item. The data, with respect to age, suggest that children suppress signs of overt fear and anxiety with increasing age, giving a misleading impression of older children's feelings toward their dental experience.