Patterns of dental anxiety in children after sequential dental visits

To determine whether gradually exposing Brazilian children to the dental environment would decrease their levels of dental anxiety over a 14.5-month period.

The study was carried out on 302 children of both genders, aged 6-7 years old. Dental anxiety was assessed using the Facial Image Scale (FIS) at five time points: 1) before an epidemiological examination; 2) before the first treatment session; 3) before the second treatment session; 4) before the first evaluation session 5) before the second evaluation session.

ANOVA, Student-t tests and ANCOVA were used to analyse the data.

There was a statistically significant decrease in levels of dental anxiety between time points 1 and 5. Eighty-nine percent of the children with FIS score 1 or 2 at baseline had the same scores at the last time point, whereas 82% of children with FIS score 4 or 5 at baseline had a FIS score of 1 or 2 at the last time point.

A gradual exposure of children to the dental environment in sequential dental visits of different natures in a school premise decreased their levels of dental anxiety over a 14.5-month period.