Assessing child dental anxiety: the validity of clinical observations.
For children there are few validated psychometric measures of dental anxiety. The study reported here aims to examine the validity of using clinical observations as a measure of child dental fear. 100 children consecutively attending a community clinic were asked to complete the validated Child Fear Survey Schedule (CFSS). After the dental examination both dental nurse and dentist separately assessed the subject's dental fear using a checklist based on the CFSS schedule. High agreement was found between the child, the dentist and dental nurse respectively and principal components analysis suggested that a dual nature of anticipatory dental anxiety existed in children. The findings of this work suggest that clinical observations may be a valid means of assessing child dental anxiety status.
Carson
P
P
Dental Department, North Down and Ards Community Health and Social Services Trust, Newtownards, Northern Ireland.
Freeman
R
R
D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D016854:Dental Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003726:Dental Assistants; D003815:Dentists; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D012649:Self Concept; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires