Clinical Trial Details
— Status: Completed
Administrative data
| NCT number |
NCT05563532 |
| Other study ID # |
2019/104.25 |
| Secondary ID |
|
| Status |
Completed |
| Phase |
|
| First received |
|
| Last updated |
|
| Start date |
December 1, 2019 |
| Est. completion date |
September 1, 2022 |
Study information
| Verified date |
September 2022 |
| Source |
Okan University |
| Contact |
n/a |
| Is FDA regulated |
No |
| Health authority |
|
| Study type |
Observational
|
Clinical Trial Summary
Mothers usually have the primary role in bringing up children and developing health-related
behaviors. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of mothers' dental anxiety and
oral hygiene on the dental anxiety and periodontal health of their children.
The study included 280 randomly selected children, aged 4-12 years, who came to the dentist
for the first time and their mothers. Demographic and oral hygiene information of the mothers
was collected through a questionaire. Dental anxiety of the mothers and children was assessed
using the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) and the Venham Picture Test (VPT),
respectively.
Description:
Anxiety is a neurotic syndrome in which patients have difficulty in explaining internal
restlessness, anxiety and fear reaching the level of panic, which causes physiological and
behavioral disorders as a result of affecting motor tension and even autonomic hyperactivity.
Anxiety and fear are frequently encountered in dentistry clinical practice in both adults and
children. Dental anxiety is also defined as intense fear and anxiety that occurs as a result
of the thought that patients will be harmed, that they will have an unknown operation outside
their control, and because they have had previous negative dental treatment experiences.
Direct factors such as previous traumatic dental experiences, postoperative complications,
age, gender, anxious temperament in childhood, and indirect factors such as the effect of
family on the approach to dental treatment and sociodemographic factors have been reported to
have an effect on the development of dental anxiety. Most early school-age children begin to
imitate their parents as role models. Children in this age group internalize their mothers'
values, attitudes and behaviors, since they usually spend more time with their mothers. It is
thought that especially parents' dental anxiety may have an effect on their children's dental
anxiety through modeling and knowledge.
Children with dental anxiety try every way to avoid dental treatment. The thought that
patients will feel more pain than normal due to the anxiety they experience during dental
treatments makes treatment difficult. Anxiety might lead to individuals discontinuing
treatment, thereby worsening their dental health. As a result, necessary dental treatment
becomes more time-consuming, invasive, and costly. At the same time, treatment anxiety
impedes the clinical process, jeopardizes treatment results, and causes professional stress
for dentists.
Dental anxiety is evaluated through projective tests, behavioral assessments, psychometric
assessments, and physiological techniques. Behavioral assessment is based on the dentist or
researchers scoring the behaviors visually. For this purpose, the Frankl Behavior Scale and
the Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale are used. Psychometric assessments are made with
questionnaires, which are the most preferred because of their ease of application, and these
are used to measure the anxiety of children or adults before dental treatment. At the present
time, the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) is frequently used for adults, while the
Children's Fear Survey Schedule-Dental Subscale (CFSS-DS) is used for children. Projective
techniques also use pictures or narratives of objects that may cause anxiety and fear in
young children. The Venham Picture Test (VPT) and Children's Dental Fear Picture Test are
commonly used projective techniques. Physiological techniques measure anxiety-related
parameters such as salivary cortisol level, blood pressure, and dorsal skin response.
However, it is thought that the equipment used in this technique may increase anxiety,
especially in children.
From a review of literature it can be seen that there are few studies conducted in Turkey
which have evaluated the effect of the mother on the child's dental anxiety and oral hygiene.
The aim of this study was to determine the effects of mothers' dental anxiety and oral
hygiene on the dental anxiety and periodontal health of their children, using psychometric
analysis and projective methods.
