Abstract
Psychological palmar sweating is a phenomenon that occurs with emotional changes such as anxiety, fear, and anger. To identify the psychological anxiety and stress experienced by children visiting a dental office, we measured the amount of psychological palmar sweating using a sudorometer and obtained the following results.
1. Amount of sweating in dental office
The amount of sweating was largest in both boys and girls when they were guided to the dental chair, followed by the period during tooth brushing and turbine sound. The least sweating occurred while they were in the waiting room. In boys, significant differences in sweating were seen between the times spent in the waiting room and when guided to the chair, and between the times when they were guided to the chair and taught tooth brushing. In girls, significant differences were seen between the times spent in the waiting room and when guided to the chair, between the times when guided to the chair and taught tooth brushing, and between being guided to the chair and turbine sound.
2. Amount of sweating by gender
In the dental office, the amount of sweating was larger in girls than in boys during all times: while in the waiting room, when guided to the chair, during tooth brushing and turbine sound. However, no significant differences were seen between boys and girls.
The method presented in our study maybe very useful to quantitatively understand the psychological state of children in dental offices who may be unable to express their own feelings well.
