title: The child dental patient. Part I. The nature and prevalence of children's dental fears.
abstract: For various reasons, fear of dentists and dentistry is not uncommon among children. These fears not only disrupt the performance of clinical procedures, they also tend to undermine the relationship between dentist and child patient. It would seem to make sense then, to address this vexing problem in which two major issues are involved. The first is concerned with the prevalence of dental fears among children and the second deals with their management. For reasons of convenience, clarity and brevity, these issues are dealt with in two separate papers. The first paper (Part I) focuses on acquiring an understanding of the nature and prevalence of dental fears among children and the second (Part II) is concerned with investigating ways in which these fears could best be managed. Parts I and II appear in successive issues of the SADJ.
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Brand
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016854:Dental Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D019140:Dental Care for Children / Q000523:psychology*; D003812:Dentist-Patient Relations; D006801:Humans; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D010379:Peer Group; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology