Does the length of dental treatment influence children’s behaviour during and after treatment? A systematic review and critical appraisal

Abstract

The aim of this systematic review was to investigate the effect of treatment duration on children’s behavior and/or anxiety in the dental setting. To this end, a systematic search was conducted in Pubmed/Medline and Scopus from 1970 to march 2017 for English language articles that assessed the relationship between dental treatment duration or length, and fear/anxiety or behavior in children aged <12 with no confounding medical and/or psychological history and neuro-psychiatric disabilities. Four studies investigating the effect of treatment duration on children’s behavior during and/or after treatment were included. None of the reviewed studies investigated the effect of treatment duration on children’s dental anxiety or fear. There was a general tendency towards deterioration of children’s behavior with an increase in treatment duration. In conclusion, our results undermine the validity of current suggestions about the appropriate treatment duration. Further clinical trials are needed to establish appropriate treatment duration for more effective behavioral management of pediatric patients during dental proce-dures.

A systematic review and meta‐analysis of randomized clinical trials comparing rotary canal instrumentation techniques with manual instrumentation techniques in primary teeth

“…The horizontal line depicts the 95% confidence interval (CI), whereas the diamond shape signifies the meta-analysis pooled effect estimate and its CI. One of the other essential factors that may impact the success rate of any treatment in a child patient is the duration of the procedure which may affect the level of cooperation (Appukuttan 2016, Jamali et al 2018, especially for uncooperative children and children with special healthcare needs. Thus, the rotary instrument technique might be an added advantage in such situations.…”

Técnica de distracción audiovisual para el control de la ansiedad en niño

“…La duración y la complejidad del tratamiento dental son factores que influyen directamente sobre el nivel de ansiedad en los pacientes pediátricos; para el presente estudio se realizaron tratamientos invasivos y de (pulpotomías y pulpectomías), en los cuales se presentó un aumento de la ansiedad leve en los pacientes, como los encontrados en los estudios de Aminabadi (4) y Jamali (5) . Otro es- tudio, como el realizado por Hanif (20) , indica que además de los factores antes mencionados, el nivel socioeconómico y las visitas dentales previas influyen en el comportamiento y la ansiedad en estos pacientes.…”

“…La duración del tratamiento dental y el manejo del comportamiento son dos puntos importantes a tener en cuenta cuando se trata de pacientes infantiles. Por lo que se ha sugerido que las citas sean cortas, de lo contrario, los niños interpretarían las sesiones de tratamiento como un signo de problemas importantes que causaría una ansiedad significativa y por ende problemas en el manejo del comportamiento (4) (5) .…”

Anxiolysis in the Surgical Management of a Compound Odontoma in a Pediatric Patient

“…Conservative surgical enucleation and curettage were performed as the treatment of choice [3]. As mentioned above, extended dental treatments such as oral surgery procedures may cause deterioration of the pediatric patient behavior associated with dental fear and dental anxiety [9]. In particular, dental anxiety indicates an excessive and unreasonable negative emotional state that might jeopardize the outcome of the procedure [18].…”

“…Currently available evidence suggests that approximately 6% [7] to 40% [8] of children exhibit anxiety with respect to dental treatment. Furthermore, anxiety is exacerbated by invasive and long-lasting procedures including surgical interventions [9]. Anxious patients are likely to express subjective feelings of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and fear that might compromise dental treatment.…”