The oral health of dentally anxious five- and eight-year-olds: a secondary analysis of the 2013 Child Dental Health Survey

Abstract

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Association of Dental Anxiety with Psychosocial Characteristics among Children Aged 7-13 Years

“…Behavior in previous dental appointments may help predict child behavior and emotional reactions in the next dental appointment. In this study, a statistically significant association was found between child behavior during dental care and dental anxiety, in accordance with previous studies [7,17]. Children with uncooperative behavior during previous dental appointments and in current dental appointment had higher dental anxiety prevalence than those with cooperative behavior.…”

“…The family environment has been considered as another important factor associated with dental anxiety in children. Dentally anxious children are less likely of having poor oral health and poor oral health behaviors, such as not going to the dentist for regular dental examinations and to brush teeth twice a day [7].…”

“…The oral health of dentally anxious children impacts more on family life than children with no dental anxiety [7]. In the same line, only children have demonstrated being more anxious than the other children [14].…”

“…Psychosocial characteristics have been identified as other important factors associated with dental anxiety in children. Previous authors identified that dentally anxious children impact more on family life than those without dental anxiety [7]. In the same line, children whose parents are highly anxious had almost three times more likely to report high dental anxiety [9].…”

“…Behavior problems can be a natural response to fear, especially when the child experiences new situations [6]. Dental anxiety in children has also been associated with poor oral health, such as active dental caries [3,7], dental pain [8], and poor oral health behaviors, such as toothbrushing less than twice a day and irregular dental attendance patterns [7,8], negatively affecting their quality of life [7].…”