Ayesha, I. Khan
Vivian, M. Lee
Pooja, A. Patel
Tiana, S. Piscitelli
| Ayesha, I. Khan | Vivian, M. Lee | Pooja, A. Patel | Tiana, S. Piscitelli |
Ayesha I. Khan, Vivian, M. Lee, Pooja, A. Patel, Tiana, S. Piscitelli
Tatyana Straus1,2, Joan Gluch1, Deanne Wallaert
Division of Community Oral Health, Preventive & Restorative Sciences, University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine
Description
This study was conducted at Penn Dental Medicine clinics, predominately the Pediatric First Five Dental Clinic.
Project Overview
Dental fear and anxiety is recognized as a substantial public health issue. Vertical transfer of dental fear and anxiety from guardians to their children should be further studied. Some studies suggest that guardian dental fear and anxiety may be related to early childhood caries, the most common chronic childhood disease. Thus, it is imperative to better understand the relationship between dental fear and caries rates in children under the age of 6 years. This pilot study aims to evaluate possible interventions to prevent the transmission of dental anxiety from guardian to child.
Outcome
Based on the response data from faculty, students, and parents, the intervention can be improved by making the following changes: avoiding trigger words that may be damaging and creating preconceived notions of the dentist, using concise language, and including objective data such as statistics, etc. The knowledge from this project could be applied to future research analyzing the correlation between dental anxiety and pediatric oral health. The relationship between legal parental/guardian dental fear and early childhood caries rates of the children in their care under the age of 6 years should be further investigated and effective educational interventions should continue to be implemented.