Children's Perceptions of the Dentist and Dental Office Through Drawings

Purpose: To evaluate children's perceptions of the dentist and dental office using drawings and its association with age, sex, and previous dental experience.
Methods: Participants included 144 four- to six-year-old children who were instructed to make a drawing of their perception of the dentist and dental office. Data collected included age, sex, and previous dental care experience. The data were analyzed descriptively and through multivariate logistic regression.
Results: Boys were 2.3 times more likely to have a negative perception of the dentist than girls (P =0.024). Children who had no previous dental experience were four times more likely to have a negative perception of dentists (P =0.002). Six-year-old children were three times more likely to have a negative perception of the dentist compared to four-year-old children (P =0.031).
Conclusion: Drawings can be a useful tool to evaluate children's perceptions of the dentist and dental office.