Acceptance by Spanish parents of behaviour-management techniques used in paediatric dentistry

This was to examine the attitude of a group of Spanish parents towards behaviour-management techniques used in paediatric dentistry.

A video with 8 different behaviour-management techniques used in paediatric dentistry was shown to 50 parents whose children were being treated at the International University of Catalonia (Barcelona, Spain). The techniques shown were: tell-show-do, nitrous-oxide sedation, passive restraint, voice control, handover- mouth (HOM), oral premedication, active restraint and general anaesthesia. Parents gave an acceptance rating of each of these techniques according to a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 being the lowest level of acceptance and 10 the highest.

The technique rated as most acceptable was the tell-show-do technique, while the least accepted was the HOM technique. An association was found between acceptance of the different techniques and the socioeconomic status and gender of the parent, and the differences were statistically significant. No statistically significant differences were found regarding the age or gender of the child treated, or the previous dental experiences of those interviewed or of their children, with acceptance of each of the techniques.

The techniques were well accepted by all those surveyed with the exception of HOM technique and the use of the papoose board. On comparing this study to other studies previously carried out in other areas of the world, similar results were found.