Gagging and cooperation in 4-12-year-old children over a series of dental appointments

The purposes were to evaluate if gagging can affect children's cooperation with treatment, investigate possible changes in gagging and study factors that can predict children's behaviour over dental treatment.

255 children aged 4-12 years, needing at least three consecutive dental appointments, completed the Children's Fear Survey Schedule-Dental Subscale before examination. The Gagging Problem Assessment was performed before the initial examination and after the third/final appointment. Frankl's Behaviour Rating Scale (FBRS) was used to rate children's behaviour. Multivariate Mixed Linear and Logistic Regression Models were used.

Children with definitely positive behaviour were significantly older, less fearful and less likely to gag before treatment. Girls and older children had lower odds of gagging over time, while fearful children had higher odds. There were no statistically significant associations between gagging over time, FBRS and the type of dental treatment at the third appointment. The percentage of children who gagged after the third appointment (27.05%) was significantly lower as compared to the percentage found at the initial appointment (32.54%; p = 0.004).

Among the variables studied, age, dental fear, initial GPA and type of treatment were good predictors of children's behaviour during dental treatment.