Maternal anxiety and the child's behavior in the dental chair

Abstract

The literature is varied as to whether there is a positive correlation or if there is no relation between maternal anxiety and a child's behavior at the dentist's office. The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a correlation between maternal anxiety and a child's behavior in the dental chair at the first dental visit. The hypothesis for this research study was that there would be a positive correlation found between maternal anxiety and a child's behavior in the dental chair. A total of 59 essentially healthy children between the ages of 1.2 and 9. 7 years of age with no previous dental treatment were selected for this study. Informed consent was obtained with approval from the Institutional Review Board. All children received an initial dental examination, dental prophylaxis, a fluoride treatment, and radiographs when indicated clinically. The children were videotaped during the dental appointment with consent obtained from the parents. The child's cooperativeness during the dental treatment was measured using the four-point Frankl scale and was evaluated by two separate investigators. The mother's anxiety was measured using a modification of Corah's Dental Anxiety Scale. Fifty-six of these children presented to the dental clinic with their mothers, while the other three presented with their fathers. There were 31 females and 28 males. The correlation between the 1natemal anxiety score and the child's behavior score was estimated using a Spearman rank correlation coefficient, adjusted for the child's age. In addition, Spearman correlation coefficient shows a 95-percent confidence interval. In this study, there was an attempt to determine if the relationship that exists between a mother and child allows the fears of the mother to be expressed through the behavior of the child. However, this research showed that there is no significant correlation between the dental anxiety level of the mother or father and the behavior of the child at the first dental visit. Ultimately, there was no difference in the results between those that presented with their fathers versus those with their mothers; however, there was not a large enough sample to make this conclusive.