Temperament and Child Dental Fear

Resident: Roberts
Title: Temperament and Child Dental Fear
Author: Klingberg et al
Journal: Pediatric Dentistry
Volume# 20:4 pages: 237-243
Year: 1998
Key pts and findings:
In this study 124 children ages 5-7 and 10-12 years of age participated. Three test were administered to measure four aspects of tempermant, which are: negative emotionality(characterized by crying, shrinking back, hiding, fear, anger and temper tantrums), shyness( the tendency to be slow to warm up to others in social situations), sociability( described as preferring the presence of others to being alone) and activity( defined as tempo and vigor in this article). Together, these aspects assessed can help to determine if a child is at risk of developing dental fear. Preliminary surveys were done before exams were performed in the dental chair to determine the characteristics of each child. The results concluded that shyness along with negative emotionality can lead to development of dental fear in children. Most shy children do not present with behavior management problems, and most children with behavior management problems are not shy. However, dental fear should not be confused with dental behavior management problems. Shyness thus has been associated with dental fear but not behavior management problems. Dental or medical treatment of shy children should therefore include 1) plenty of time to allow the child to get acquainted with the situation. 2) A proper introduction to all steps in treatment. 3) sufficient medications and techniques for minimizing pain and discomfort during procedure.

Assessment: The article was steep in to numbers and statistics. I thought the take home message was good though.