Management of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Children for Dental Procedures

Background A common psychiatric problem called attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by impulsivity with resultant behavior issues and a very short attention span. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the management of dental procedures in children with and without ADHD employing various behavior modification techniques. Materials and methods The study consisted of 121 children divided into two groups with 60 children diagnosed with ADHD and 60 children without ADHD between 7 and 15 years of age. Each of the three sessions, which were spaced a week apart, included a dental examination, oral prophylaxis, and a minor restorative procedure. The pulse rate (PR) and oxygen saturation (SpO₂) were measured during each of these sessions. The study was conducted to evaluate the Tell-Show-Do (TSD) method, audiovisual distraction, and pharmacological management of children with and without ADHD during the dental procedure. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 22 (Released 2013; IBM Corp., Armonk, New York, United States) was used to statistically analyze the findings. The mean values of the parameters from the three sessions were analyzed and compared using the Z-test. Result The children with ADHD included 39 (65%) boys and 21 (35%) girls, and the children without ADHD consisted of 27 (44.26%) boys and 33 (54.09%) girls. The mean values of the PR during sessions two and three were found to be statistically highly significant between the children with and without ADHD for TSD and audiovisual aids. In both groups, the mean SpO₂ values for all the sessions were found to be statistically highly significant for the techniques evaluated (p<0.01). The change in the mean PR score for the ADHD children revealed a declining trend from sessions one through three for all the techniques evaluated (p<0.05), demonstrating a statistically significant effectiveness of the various techniques between the two groups and thereby revealing a decreased level of anxiety. Between sessions one and three, all of the three techniques showed a decreasing trend of SpO₂ scores, with the exception of the pharmacological management of ADHD children (p<0.01) indicating that the uncontrollable ADHD children feel less anxious than in the other two approaches. Conclusion The findings of the study demonstrated that behavior management techniques were found to be effective at reducing anxiety in ADHD children than in children without ADHD. Our study further suggests that scheduling dental appointments into a series of short visits could enhance the effectiveness of the therapy and better cooperation of the children.