Abstract
Introduction Little research has been conducted into the relationships between dental anxiety and factors relating to oral health in small children. This research takes advantage of data from the Child Dental Health Survey 2013 to perform a secondary analysis for the five- and eight-year-old age groups.
Aim To compare the oral health of groups of children aged five and eight years old, classified into three levels of anxiety.
Design Secondary analysis of data from 2,289 children aged five and eight years in the Child Dental Health Survey 2013.
Materials and methods Participants were divided into three groups, depending on the parent's report of their child's dental anxiety. Descriptive analyses compared the three groups on social demographic factors, clinical status, self-reported oral health status, oral health-related behaviours and oral health impact.
Results Dentally anxious children were more likely to have active decay and decay experience. Parents of children with dental anxiety were more likely to report that the child's oral health had a negative effect on family life. Highly anxious children were less likely to attend the dentist or engage in oral health-related behaviours.
Conclusions Dentally anxious children have more dental disease and their parents express that the child's oral health has a greater impact on their family's quality of life.
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Coxon, J., Hosey, MT. & Newton, J. The oral health of dentally anxious five- and eight-year-olds: a secondary analysis of the 2013 Child Dental Health Survey. Br Dent J 226, 503–507 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-019-0148-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-019-0148-3
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