RESUMO
Purpose: The aim of this study is to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of five pre?treatment behaviour modification techniques in 4–7?year olds in reducing dental anxiety by evaluating pulse rate, partial pressure of oxygen, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, salivary flow rate, salivary pH, and through modified facial anxiety scale. Material and Methods: Using simple random sampling technique (drawing of lots), 125 children were equally distributed into 5 groups of 25 each: Group 1: tell?show?do (control); Group 2: tell?show?play?doh; Group 3: Playmobil Dentist; Group 4: mobile dentist games; Group 5: role play as dentist. Samples in each group were treated in a single appointment after using the behaviour modification techniques. Class I or Class II cavities were prepared on carious primary molar and restored using glass ionomer cement. Patient’s anxiety level was assessed by recording blood pressure, pulse rate, oxygen saturation, salivary pH, salivary flow rate, and facial anxiety scale at different time intervals, that is before the treatment, during the treatment, and after the treatment. Results: All the intervention Groups (Groups 2–5) showed reduced anxiety scores in both physiological and facial anxiety compared to the control group, that is tell, show do. The modified distraction techniques aid in better modification. Conclusion: Tell?show?play?doh, Playmobil dentist games, mobile dentist games and role play as dentist are effective distraction techniques as compared to conventional tell?show?do techniques which can be incorporated in day?to?day clinical practice to reduce dental anxiety in paediatric patients
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Behavior guidance is a technique used to subdue inappropriate behavior by establishing communication that meets the needs of a child. This study aimed to measure the effectiveness of a mobile app (Little Lovely Dentist) compared to the tell-show-do (TSD) technique in managing anxious children during their first dental visit.METHODS: Fifty children (30 boys and 20 girls) without any past dental experience, aged from 7 to 11 years, were randomly allocated into either the dental app group or the TSD group. The pre- and post-operative anxiety of children who underwent prophylactic cleaning was assessed both physiologically and subjectively using a heart rate measurement and the RMS pictorial scale, respectively.RESULTS: The intragroup comparison of heart rate and RMS scores for children allocated to the dental app group was statistically significant (P value ≤ 0.001). However, a significant reduction only occurred in the RMS scores, but not the heart rate measurements, in the TSD group. Conversely, there was an increase in heart rates in the TSD group.CONCLUSION: Educating the child prior to a dental procedure using a smartphone application such as Little Lovely Dentist can significantly alleviate the anticipatory anxiety and engage children in dental treatment during their first visit.