<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Dental practitioners should be able to evaluate the anxiety in their young patients, as the quality of dental care is negatively affected by this condition. The aim of this review is to present the most used self-report scales available to assess the children’s dental fear or anxiety. We analysed the subjective and objective measures commonly used in the evaluation of children’s anxiety in clinical settings, in order to present the way in which dental anxiety is developed, knowing that these behavioural disturbances are maintained over time and could intensify during adulthood. Based on the evidence that established a correlation between dental anxiety and poor oral health, the early identification of dental anxiety and its prevalence was considered important, in order to reduce its impact and to develop better preventive measures. Furthermore, our findings could inform dentists and epidemiologists about the choice of self-report dental anxiety measures applicable in children.</p>
</abstract>

Dental practitioners should be able to evaluate the anxiety in their young patients, as the quality of dental care is negatively affected by this condition. The aim of this review is to present the most used self-report scales available to assess the children’s dental fear or anxiety. We analysed the subjective and objective measures commonly used in the evaluation of children’s anxiety in clinical settings, in order to present the way in which dental anxiety is developed, knowing that these behavioural disturbances are maintained over time and could intensify during adulthood. Based on the evidence that established a correlation between dental anxiety and poor oral health, the early identification of dental anxiety and its prevalence was considered important, in order to reduce its impact and to develop better preventive measures. Furthermore, our findings could inform dentists and epidemiologists about the choice of self-report dental anxiety measures applicable in children.

A Review of the Current Self-Report Measures for Assessing Children’s Dental Anxiety

“George Emil Palade” University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Târgu-Mureș

Acta Medica Transilvanica

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Dental practitioners should be able to evaluate the anxiety in their young patients, as the quality of dental care is negatively affected by this condition....

A Review of the Current Self-Report Measures for Assessing Children’s Dental Anxiety

Published Online: Aug 03, 2020

Page range: 53 - 56

Received: Feb 11, 2020

Accepted: Mar 02, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/amtsb-2020-0014

Keywords
children dental anxiety, self-report measures, anxiety scales, behavioural measures

© 2020 Ramona Vlad et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

A Review of the Current Self-Report Measures for Assessing Children’s Dental Anxiety

Published Online: Aug 03, 2020

Page range: 53 - 56

Received: Feb 11, 2020

Accepted: Mar 02, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/amtsb-2020-0014

Keywordschildren dental anxiety, self-report measures, anxiety scales, behavioural measures

© 2020 Ramona Vlad et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
children dental anxiety, self-report measures, anxiety scales, behavioural measures