Parent, Dentist, and Independent Rater Assessment of Child Distress During Preventive Dental Visits.
OBJECTIVE
Although typically not painful, preventive dental care can be distressing to young children. A greater understanding of how adults perceive child distress may enable clinicians to improve the patient/parent experience through alignment of values and facilitation of shared decision-making. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between parent, dentist, and independent observer (IO) ratings of child distress during preventive dental procedures.


METHODS
Sixty-five children younger than three years were seen for preventive dental care at a university dental clinic. Parents, dentists, and an IO rated intensity of child distress during four phases of the dental visit: (1) pre-exam; (2) positioning; (3) prophylaxis/exam/fluoride; and (4) post-exam.


RESULTS
The average age of the children was 24.4 months old (±7.2 SD). The prophylaxis/exam/fluoride phase was judged to be most distress inducing. Mean distress ratings for this phase were: 2.30 (parents); 2.47 (dentists); and 3.08 (IO), which was statistically significant (P=.04). The IO ratings were significantly different from parents (for three phases) and dentists (for one phase); no statistically significant differences were noted between parent and dentist ratings for any phase.


CONCLUSIONS
There was a strong agreement between parents' and dentists' ratings of child distress during preventive dental procedures.
Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dentistry, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash., USA. tmnelson@uw.edu.
Travis M
TM
Nelson
Department of Health Services, School of Public Health, School of Dentistry, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash., USA; Department of Pediatric Dentistry, at the School of Dentistry, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash., USA.
Colleen E
CE
Huebner
Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dentistry, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash., USA.
Amy S
AS
Kim
Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dentistry, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash., USA.
JoAnna M
JM
Scott
D002652:Child Behavior; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016854:Dental Anxiety; D019140:Dental Care for Children; D003815:Dentists; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D011322:Primary Prevention