Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 28, 2026

Impact of Common Fruit Juices and Toothbrushing on the Discoloration of Primary Teeth
Published on: March 27, 2026
Temperament and child dental fear
1Department of Pedodontics, Faculty of Odontology, Göteborg University, Sweden.
Purpose:
The relationship between dental fear and temperament in children was investigated in 124 Swedish children aged 5-7 and 10-12 years. They represented dentally fearful (65) and not fearful (81) children, and were drawn from a larger population-based patient pod. The aims of the investigation were to study the relationships between temperament on one hand, and dental fear and dental behavior-management problems on the other hand.
Methods:
Dental fear was measured by the Dental Subscale of Children's Fear Survey Schedule (CFSS-DS) and the Children's Dental Fear Picture test (CDFP), while the Emotionality, Activity, Sociability (EAS) Temperamental Survey was used to assess four aspects of temperament: negative emotionality, shyness, sociability, and activity.
Results:
Using Student's t test, children with dental fear had statistically significantly higher scores on shyness compared with normative data on EAS from Sweden. When fearful children were compared with the others in the study group by the use of Student's t test, children with dental fear scored statistically significantly higher on both shyness and negative emotionality.
Conclusion:
Thus, children expressing shyness and/or tendencies of negative emotionality should be considered patients at risk for developing dental fear problems.
Related Concept Videos
Socioemotional Development during Infancy
Primary Temperament Types
Stella Chess...
Teeth
In the bud stage, the tooth germ (an aggregation of cells) starts to form in the developing jawbone. During the cap stage, the tooth germ differentiates into enamel organ, dental papilla, and dental sac, which will later develop into the tooth's enamel, dentin and...
Psychosexual Stages of Personality: Oral
Weaning, typically occurring around the age...
Preparedness and Phobias
Tooth Anatomy
The Crown, Neck, and Root
The visible part of the tooth is referred to as the crown. It's covered by enamel, the hardest substance in the human body. The crown is uniquely shaped for each type of tooth, allowing for different functions such as cutting, tearing, or grinding food.
Psychosexual Stages of Personality: Anal