Injection Fear, Fear, Avoidance, Dental Clinical Trial
Official title:
Self-reported Fear of Intraoral Injections and Its Relationship to Dental Fear and Subsequent Avoidance of Dental Treatment Among 8 to 10 Years Children: Across Sectional Study
Aim of the study
1. Estimate the prevalence of intraoral injection fear and its relationship to dental fear
among 8-10 years children.
2. Explore the possible consequences of such problems in terms of avoidance of dental and
medical care.
Statement of the problem Despite all the technological advancements in the dental profession,
fear toward dentistry remains a major concern and potentially distressing problem in daily
practice (Oliveira et al. 2014).
Dental fear is a normal emotional reaction to one or more specific threatening stimuli within
the dental situation and Intra oral injection is considered one of the most fear-provoking
stimuli in the dental setting. Excessive or unreasonable fear or anxiety can influence daily
living and result in prolonged avoidance of dental treatment leading to a public health
dilemma (Shim et al. 2015).
People with high dental fear, children and adults, may prove difficult to treat, require more
time, and present with behavioral problems which can result in a stressful and unpleasant
experience for both the patient and treating dental practitioner (Armfield & Heaton 2013).
Rationale Intra-oral injections have been shown to be among the most fear-provoking stimuli
in the dental setting.(Berge et al. 2016) Dental patients with fear and anxiety may also
become dependent on pharmacological approaches for the management of their care, particularly
if they do not receive treatment for their anxiety (MCGoldrick et al. 2001).
Assessment of high intra-oral injection fear is of paramount impact in offering the affected
patients appropriate treatment , such as cognitive behavioral therapy and applied tension.
(Berge et al. 2016) Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a goal-orientated talking therapy
which aims to help people manage their problems by changing how they think and behave in
relation to their problems. CBT incorporates a variety of different cognitive and behavioral
strategies which aim to help the patient modify the unhelpful behaviors or thoughts
maintaining their anxiety. (Marshman et al. 2018) Applied tension is a treatment method that
is used with patients with blood-injection-injury phobia to alter their physiological
response to the feared stimulus. The method includes repeated muscle tensing when in the
presence of feared stimuli to counteract the drop in blood pressure and prevent vasovagal
syncope.(Mednick et al. 2012) During Dental Procedures Some children may experience vasovagal
syncope, proper history taking from those patients will help the dentist get prepared for
such a probability.(Vika et al. 2008) Some adjusted behavior management techniques are used
in order to prevent fainting, for example, applied tension (Vika et al. 2008)
;