Dental Fear among 3- to 8-year-old new Child Patients at a Pediatric Dental Clinic in a University Hospital

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the dental fear of young child patients who visited the Pediatric Dental Clinic, Okayama University Hospital for an initial examination.
Methods: The Japanese parental version of the Dental Subscale of Children's Fear Survey Schedule (CFSS-DS) was administered to the guardians of 224 child patients aged 3-8 years with a mean age of 5.9±1.6 (118 boys and 106 girls).
Results: The mean total CFSS-DS score was 34.0±1.6. The fear level was higher than those reported in foreign countries as well as those reported earlier in the suburbs of Okayama. There was no statistical difference in scores between boys and girls. Age was inversely correlated with dental fear score. The most feared items were “drilling”, “injections” and “choking”, which were consistent with the results of other reports. The prevalence of dental fear was 52.7%, which had scores of 33 or above, indicating high dental fear. Children with high dental fear were more likely to be younger, have no previous dental visits, have more untreated caries and to be referred due to behavior management problems. The referred patients due to behavior management problems had a statistically higher total CFSS-DS score than the rest (45.3 vs 32.5).
Conclusions: These results suggested that among young child patients in Okayama, those with a higher level of dental fear tended to visit the Pediatric Dental Clinic, Okayama University Hospital. Extra attention should be provided in order to prevent dental fear.