2021, Volume 14, Issue 1, pp 45 – 49

Childhood dental fear in children aged 7-11 years old by using the Children’s Fear Survey Schedule-Dental Subscale

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Authors and Affiliations

* Corresponding Author: Dr. Debasmita Das, Senior Lecturer, Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, Hi-tech Dental College and Hospital, Health Park, Pandra, Rasulgarh, Bhubaneswar 751025, India. Phone: 91-7999449364. E-mail: sureshzore1178@gmail.com

Abstract

In children, dental fear is not only associated with fear of pain or invasive procedures, but it is also correlated with separation from parents or confronting unfamiliar people or environments. The Children’s Fear Survey Schedule-Dental Subscale (CFSS-DS) was developed to evaluate dental fear in children, and this scale is now used across the world for evaluating dental fear. The aim of this study was to evaluate dental fear in children between 7–11 years of age and to find out the association between caries and fear of dental treatment. A total of 300 subjects of both sexes were enrolled in the study. Prior to the oral examination, all patients’ attendants were informed about the study, and the subjects were asked to fill in a questionnaire regarding the CFSS-DS scale. The data obtained through the questionnaires were analyzed using the Chi-Square test. Fear scores were highest for “injections” (3.91±0.17), “dentist drilling” (3.91±0.10) and “choking” (3.65±0.82). It was also observed that subjects who had already visited a dental clinic or those who were familiar with the dental environment at an early stage of life were less anxious than patients who were receiving dental treatment for the first time. In this study, we found that female subjects were more anxious in comparison to male patients. Once the child’s fear is identified, the dentist can use various behavior modification techniques to eliminate fear, explain the steps, and use the instruments accordingly until fear has vanished.

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About this article

PMC ID: 7982262
PubMed ID: 33767784
DOI: 10.25122/jml-2020-0084

Article Publishing Date (print): Jan-Feb 2021
Available Online: 

Journal information

ISSN Printing: 1844-122X
ISSN Online: 1844-3117
Journal Title: Journal of Medicine and Life

Copyright License: Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.


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