Dental Fear and Caries in 6- to 12-Year-Old Children: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between dental fear and dental caries in children aged 6 to 12 years in a systematic review and meta-analysis. METHODS: Systematic review search terms were selected according to medical subject headings (MeSH) or non-MeSH. An electronic search of studies published in English assessing the relationship between dental fear (children's fear survey schedule-dental subscale) and dental caries (DMFT or dmft index) was carried out of the Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, Embase, Cochrane and Proquest databases up to March 2022. Of 5,759 articles retrieved initially, 16 were eligible for inclusion in the study, and 5 of these were included in the quantitative analysis. The quality of studies was evaluated based on the Newcastle-Ottawa scale. Begg tests were employed to assess the publication bias. RESULTS: According to the meta-analysis, the results revealed no statistically significant difference in mean of DMFT score in low and high fear score groups, with a mean difference of 1.28 (95% confidence interval -0.132 to 2.693) (P = 0.076). A statistically significant difference was found in the mean dmft score for the low and high fear score groups, with a mean difference of 0.227 (95% confidence interval 0.058 to 0.395) (P = 0.008). The mean dmft was significantly higher in the high fear score group. CONCLUSION: Dental fear has a significant relationship with caries in primary teeth, but not in permanent teeth.

Impact of molar incisor hypomineralization on oral health-related quality of life in 8-10 years old children: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of molar incisor hypomineralization (MIH) and its different severities on various aspects of oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in children between 8 and 10 years of age. DATA SOURCES: The search terms were chosen according to the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and non-MeSH. Potentially eligible studies involved the OHRQoL evaluation in 8-10 years old children with MIH. An electronic search of published studies was carried out in August 2022 on Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed databases. Of 130 papers retrieved initially, 21 were eligible to be included in the systematic review, of which 8 were excluded. The OHRQoL questionnaires used in the studies included Caregivers Perceptions Questionnaire (CPQ) 8-10, Child Oral Health Impact Profile questionnaire, and Child Oral Impacts on Daily Performances questionnaire. Nine studies using CPQ8-10 contributed to the meta-analysis. RESULTS: According to meta-analysis, the results revealed that in MIH children a significant increase was observed in the total score of CPQ 810 with the pooled mean of 15.89 (95% confidence interval [CI]:8.95-22.84; P-value = .001) and in oral symptoms, functional limitation and emotional well-being domains with the pooled means of 6.25 (95% CI:4.01-8.50; P-value = .001), 3.88 (95% CI:1.93-5.83; P-value = 0.001), and 3.24 (95% CI:0.96-5.52; P-value = .01), respectively. While the increase in social well-being with the pooled mean of 1.65 (95% CI: -0.47 to 3.76; P-value = .13) was not significant. Subgroup analysis based on MIH severity showed no significant difference in OHRQoL means for all variables. CONCLUSION: Suffering from MIH, negatively affected the total score and all domains of the CPQ 8-10 questionnaire, except for social well-being. Furthermore, different severities of MIH had no significant impact on OHRQoL in children.

EFFECT OF PRE-COOLING ON PAIN ASSOCIATED WITH DENTAL INJECTIONS IN CHILDREN: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW.

OBJECTIVES: Several methods, including cooling of the injection site, have been proposed for pain control during the dental local anesthetic injection. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the scientific evidence on the precooling of the injection site to reduce pediatric dental injection pain. DATA SOURCES: The search terms were selected according to the Medical Subject Headings and non-Medical Subject Headings. The main keywords included dental injection, cooling, pain, and children. Potentially eligible studies involved the subjective or objective pain evaluation in children receiving any dental injection. Risk of bias assessment was carried out using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. An electronic search was carried out for published studies in the English language up to March 2020 on Scopus, Cochrane, and PubMed databases. Of 761 articles retrieved initially, 14 were eligible to be included in the systematic review, of which 6 articles were excluded. Regarding the type of intervention, 6 articles used cooling agents in the intervention group, and 2 studies used the Buzzy device (a combination of cold and vibratory stimuli). All studies included in the systematic review except one considered that the use of intra- or extra-oral cooling could reduce pain during anesthesia injections in children significantly. CONCLUSION: Overall, the evidence presented in this review was limited and had low quality. It may be concluded that application of cold agents before dental anesthesia can be more helpful than the traditional dental injection in reducing pain in children. Besides, the use of the Buzzy device showed promising results, as shown by 2 studies.

Parental Awareness about Oral Health Preventive Care and its Relation to DMFT Index in Visually Impaired Children.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM: Oral health care for children with visual impairment is challenging for health service providers. Gaining information about parental awareness in this regard can be a basis for health planning and use of preventive services. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate parental awareness about the importance of preventive care and its relationship with DMFT index in visually impaired children. MATERIALS AND METHOD: This cross-sectional and descriptive-analytical study was carried out on 50 parents of children with visual impairment referring to schools of the blind children aged 8-14 years in Isfahan in 2017-2018. Parental awareness was measured by knowledge questionnaire. DMFT index of first permanent molar was recorded by examination. Data were analyzed using Spearman correlation coefficient, Pearson correlation and T-test in SPSS 22 software. The level of significance was considered less than 0.05. RESULTS: The mean score of parental awareness about significance of preventive care was 68.4±15.5. Mean DMFT in the studied children was 2.40±1.32 and highest score was related to decayed tooth, followed by filled tooth. There was no significant relation between parental knowledge and mean DMFT (p= 0.30), while there was revers relation with number of extracted teeth (p= 0.02) and direct relation with number of filled tooth (p= 0.04). CONCLUSION: Parental awareness generally did not show significant relationship with DMFT, while by increasing their knowledge the number of missed teeth was decreased and the number of filled teeth was increased in visually impaired children.

Effects of Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen on Pulpal Anaesthesia Immediately after Pulpectomy of Primary Maxillary Molars.

Introduction: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of acetaminophen and ibuprofen on pulpal anaesthesia immediately after pulpectomy of primary maxillary molars. Methods and Materials: In this placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial, 60 children (aged 5 to 9) were referred to the Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Yazd Dental School; for primary maxillary molar pulpectomy. Local anaesthesia and analgesic drugs were used for the pre-operative stage. A five-face scale was considered to evaluate pain reaction during the pulp therapy. Pain scores were determined when the dental procedure was complete. The Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were finally used at the confidence level of 95%. Results: Use of analgesics before pulpectomy in children can reduce pain score compared to placebo group (P<0.001) and increase the effectiveness of pulpal anesthesia. Additionally, ibuprofen exhibited lower pain scores compared to acetaminophen although the difference was not statistically significant. Conclusions: Pre-operative use of ibuprofen and acetaminophen might be a useful way to achieve analgesia during pulpectomy of primary maxillary molars in children.