title: Dental Fear in Children with Repeated Tooth Injuries.
abstract: Tooth injuries are serious clinical conditions. Some children experience dental trauma only once, while others are more prone to repeated tooth injuries. Repeated dental trauma occurs in 19.4% to 30% of patients. Pain and dental trauma are the most common reasons for fear and anxiety. The main objective of this study was to investigate how dental trauma, as well as repeated dental trauma affects the occurrence and development of dental fear in children. The study was conducted on a random sample of 147 subjects (88 boys and 59 girls) aged 5-8 and 9-12 years. Subjects in both age groups were divided into subroups without dental trauma, with one dental trauma and with repeated dental trauma. The validated Children’s Fear Survey Schedule – Dental Subscale was used on fear assessment. Results showed that only 12.2% of children without trauma, 33.3% with one trauma and 51.7% with repeated trauma were not afraid of injection. Older children had a significantly lower fear of injections, touch of an unknown person, choking, going to the hospital and people in white uniforms. Dentist was not the cause of fear in 65.5% of patients with repeated trauma. With each repeated injury of teeth, the degree of their fear of dental treatment was lower.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dental Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
authors.forename: Dubravka
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Negovetić Vranić
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Medicine, University of Rijeka, Rijeka University Hospital Center, Rijeka, Croatia
authors.forename: Nataša
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ivančić Jokić
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Medicine, University of Rijeka, Rijeka University Hospital Center, Rijeka, Croatia
authors.forename: Danko
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bakarčić
authors.affiliation: Department of Fixed Prosthodontics, School of Dental Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
authors.forename: Andreja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carek
authors.affiliation: Private Dental Office, Zagreb, Croatia
authors.forename: Željko
authors.initials: Ž
authors.lastname: Rotim
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dental Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
authors.forename: Željko
authors.initials: Ž
authors.lastname: Verzak
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016854:Dental Anxiety / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010146:Pain / Q000523:psychology*; D012008:Recurrence; D018677:Tooth Injuries / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Tooth injuries; Child; Fear; Dental anxiety