Abstract

MATHIES HASS, Milena Goveia; JARDIM CORREA DE OLIVEIRA, Luísa  and  SOUSA AZEVEDO, Marina. Influence of dental surgeon attire and dental office environment on anxiety of preschool children during dental care: results of a pilot study. RFO UPF [online]. 2016, vol.21, n.2, pp. 201-207. ISSN 1413-4012.

Fear and anxiety in Pediatric Dentistry may be a barrier to dental treatment performance. Objective: This pilot study aimed to assess the influence of changing the dental surgeon (DS) attire and dental office environment on dental anxiety of 3 to 6-year-old children. Subjects and method: This randomized clinical trial included 12 preschool children from Pelotas, RS, Brazil. Each child was subjected to 2 equal dental procedures, performed in a conventional way (control) and with playful changes in the dental office environment and the professional attire (intervention). The anxiety level of children was assessed through the modified Venham Picture Test (VPT). Parents/guardians answered a questionnaire assessing the perception of their children's behavior during dental care, and maternal anxiety was measured with the Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS). The difference between control and intervention groups was assessed by the Wilcoxon test (P<0.05). Results: Before dental care started, most of the parents/guardians classified their children's anxiety as moderately low and their own anxiety as high. In the DAS, most mothers showed moderate level of anxiety. There was no difference between the means of the VPT for both forms of care (P=0.8697). Conclusion: Thus, this pilot study suggests that dental anxiety of children is not influenced by changes in dental office environment and DS attire. Further studies are necessary in order to confirm this preliminary result.

Keywords : Dental anxiety; Clinical trial; Fear; Pediatric dentistry.