The Effect of Experiencing Dental Treatment During Infancy on Present Dental Fears

1. Memory of experiencing repression treatment

Abstract

Through a comparative study based on questionnaires, we endeavored to discover the extent of the relationship between the memory of dental treatment received during infancy (pre-school) and later attitudes towards dental treatment. The 350 subjects used in this survey were 4-to 6-year old students of the dental department of our university.
The results were as follows.
1) Those who were able to remember receiving dental treatment as a child (pre-school) accountied for 61% of the total subjects, but only 10% of all the subjects were able to recall their attitude toward the treatment at that time.
The above findings indicate that the majority have only a vague recollection of past dental treatment.
2) Those who had experienced repression treatment in the past and still clearly felt apprehensive and worried about dental treatment, amounted to 18% of all of the subjects, whereas only 5% felt apprehensive or worried about dental treatment who had not experienced such repression treatment. There was a difference of more than 10% between these two groups. On the other hand, there was a difference of over 10% between those who had experience repression treatment but did not feel apprehensive or worried when treated now (16%) and those who had neither experienced repression treatment nor felt apprehensive or worried now (28%).
Based on the X² statistical test, no significant differences were found but there was a tendency for those who had experienced dental treatment in the past to feel more apprehension and worry today than those who had not had such experience.