Child dental fear and general emotional problems: a pilot study.
OBJECTIVE
This was to investigate the relation between general emotional and behavioural problems of the child and dental anxiety and dental behavioural management problems.


BACKGROUND
Dental treatment involves many potentially unpleasant stimuli, which all may lead to the development of dental anxiety and behavioural management problems (BMP). It is still unclear why some children get anxious in the dental situation while others, with a comparable dental history, do not. Besides the latent inhibition theory it is suggested that this can be explained by differences in child rearing and personality traits.


METHODS
The sample consisted of 50 children (4-12 years old) and their parents participated in this study. Parents filled out the Child Fear Survey Schedule Dental Subscale (CFSS-DS) and the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) on behalf of their child. Child behaviour during consecutive dental treatments was assessed using the Venham scale.


RESULTS
There were 39 children subject to analysis (21 boys) with a mean CFSS score of 40.4. Children aged 4 and 5 years who had sleeping problems, attention problems and aggressive behaviour, as scored by parents on the CBCL, displayed more disruptive behaviour during dental treatment. Children with emotionally/ reactive and attention problems were more anxious.


CONCLUSIONS
In this pilot study a possible relation between general emotional and behavioural problems of young children and dental anxiety was shown. Also a relation between emotional and behavioural problems and dental behavioural management problems was shown. Because of the small number of subjects in our study, further research will be needed to confirm these results.
Department of Cariology, Endodontology and Paedodontology Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam, Gustav Mahlerlaan 3004, 1081 LA Amsterdam, The Netherlands. j.krikken@acta.nl
J B
JB
Krikken
J M
JM
ten Cate
J S J
JS
Veerkamp
D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000523:psychology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D019958:Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016854:Dental Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D003729:Dental Care / Q000523:psychology*; D003812:Dentist-Patient Relations; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000523:psychology