Children's and parents' attitudes towards dentists' appearance, child dental experience and their relationship with dental anxiety.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate child and parental attitudes towards dentists' appearance, subsequently related to a child's dental experience and their association with child's anxiety levels.


METHODS
402 parent-child pairs were surveyed using interviewer-administered questionnaires at the School Dental Service, Health Promotion Board, Singapore. Standardised pictures of models with different attires, ages, genders and ethnicities were shown to the parent-child pairs. Information on each child's dental experience was obtained. Parental proxy was used to evaluate the children's dental fear levels based on the Children's Fear Survey Schedule-Dental Subscale (CFSS-DS).


RESULTS
Personal protective equipment (PPE) was the attire of choice for both parents and children, followed by the paediatric coat. Formal and informal attire was least preferred by children and parents, respectively. Parents preferred female dentists to treat their child, whereas children preferred a dentist of the same gender (p < 0.001). Parent's and child's preferences for the child's dentist's appearance were shown to be significantly different (p < 0.001). CFSS-DS scores were also significantly associated with the number of previous dental visits (p = 0.002) as well as a history of extractions (p = 0.02), but not with child's demographics, dmft or preference for dentist's appearance (p > 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Regardless of child anxiety levels, the PPE followed by paediatric coats were preferred over other choices of dentists' attire. Children tended to choose a dentist who was of a younger age, and of the same gender and ethnicity as themselves. Parents tended to choose younger, female dentists of the same ethnicity as themselves. Subjective experience of extractions, as well as multiple dental visits appeared to play a more significant role in the development of dental fear than dental caries experience per se.
Discipline of Orthodontics and Paediatric Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, National University of Singapore, 11 Lower Kent Ridge Road, Singapore, 119083, Republic of Singapore, denthj@nus.edu.sg.
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D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D016854:Dental Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D003729:Dental Care / Q000523:psychology*; D003815:Dentists; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D000067029:Physical Appearance, Body; D011481:Protective Clothing; D011482:Protective Devices; D012737:Sex Factors; D014081:Tooth Extraction / Q000523:psychology