Prevalence of Dental Anxiety Level in 6- to 12-Year- Old South Indian Children.

BACKGROUND: Dental anxiety is one of the prime reasons for discouraging children to receive dental treatment. Measurement of the dental anxiety is very useful to know the prevalence level among 6- to 12-year-old children. Thus, the aim of the study was to determine the dental anxiety among 6- to 12-year-old children using Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) score. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 400 south Indian children in the age group of 6-12 years who had visited Dental College and Hospital were recruited in the study. Dental anxiety was measured before dental treatment using MDAS. Statistical analysis was performed using Wilcoxon signed rank test. RESULTS: Of the 400 children, 240 (61.5%) had severe dental anxiety, 92 (23%) had mild anxiety, and 78 (17%) had no anxiety. Females had higher anxiety level compared to males. Many study subjects answered that local anesthesia (LA) injection was considered most fearful. Dental anxiety was highest in smaller age groups. CONCLUSION: In our research, high percentage of children had dental anxiety, so counseling before dental visits is very important to reduce the dental anxiety among these 6- to 12-year-old children.

Cephalometric aspects of thalassemic children in the Indian subcontinent: A cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the cephalometric characteristics of thalassemic children in the Indian subcontinent with the controls, matched for sex and dental age. METHODOLOGY: A total of 31 thalassemic children were a part of the study. Cephalometric readings were recorded for the study and the control group. RESULTS: Within the Group I stage, the anterior cranial base length was 68.40±2.93 mm, shorter when compared to the control group. In the Group II stage, the maxillary/mandibular angle was 31.58° for the case group and the mandibular length was shorter in comparison to the controls. In the Group III stage, the SNB angle was 76.42°, lesser than the control group. A relative maxillary prognathism of 9.88 mm and 12.85 mm was observed in thalassemic males and females respectively through the Wiley's analysis. CONCLUSION: The overall picture depicted a retruded position of the maxilla and a retrognathic mandible within the study group. A class II profile has also been observed among the study subjects.

Oral health related knowledge, attitude and practices among the primary health care workers of a district in India.

AIM: To assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices of the primary health care workers in our country. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data was gathered by means of a closed-ended questionnaire form. A total of 30 primary health centers (PHCs) and 60 subcenters (SCs) were included in the study. Frequency distribution was used together with Chi-square tests and analysis of variance (ANOVA) in this study. A P value of < 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: Only 40% of the primary health care workers knew that dental caries is multifactorial, majority of them could not identify the symptoms of gum diseases, a meager number of the primary health care workers (28%) knew about the oral health aspects of a pregnant lady, and with the exception of doctors, the other health care workers were not sure of the etiology of oral cancer. CONCLUSION: About one-tenth of the primary care workers had high knowledge regarding oral health, only one-tenth of them had highly favorable oral health attitudes, and 9% of them had highly favorable oral health practices.