Challenges and dilemmas in behaviour guidance of the pediatric dental patient

In addition to the pressures of providing a high quality of dental care for children, dentists practising pediatric dentistry are faced with some legal and ethical concerns regarding the use of behaviour management techniques. The following article will discuss some of the pressures and ethical dilemmas facing dentists treating children. Strategies for making the dental appointment more humane for child, parent and dentist are suggested. The most perplexing issues in pediatric dentistry today are related to the management of patients. In addition to questions regarding clinical management, dentists treating children have to make careful judgements concerning management of patient's behaviour. The following scenarios are a few examples of the situations that often arise during the dental treatment of child and adolescent patients: "I really had to raise my voice to Jamie today and use a lot of physical restraint to administer the local anesthetic. I was not happy about being so aggressive, but it was important to get that filling done. I wonder, though, how he is going to feel about going to the dentist now?" "I feel frustrated that I did not get any work done on that four-year-old today, but I did not want to use undue force. Maybe I should have been more forceful; hand-over-mouth-exercise might have worked, but I always feel uncertain about using that technique and I wonder what the parents will think if I use it."