Scoping Review of Dental Anxiety among Children and Adolescents in Saudi Arabia

Volume 4 - Issue 1

Abdullah Ali H Alzahrani*

Received: February 26, 2020;   Published: March 05, 2020

DOI: 10.32474/IPDOAJ.2020.04.000177

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Abstract

Background: Dental anxiety (DA) has shown to be a complex concept associated with multiple factors including parents and children previous episodes of DA, poor oral health, avoidance of appointments, and unstable overall health. Thus, exploring this issue among Saudi children is highly important.

Aim: This scoping study aims to review the nature of research conducted on dental anxiety among Saudi children and adolescents.

Methods: Arksey and O’Malley’s scoping review methodology was used. Relevant cross-sectional studies, case reports, cohort studies, randomized and non-randomized control trials, systematic and scoping reviews published between 1900 and the end of January 2020 were extracted from MEDLINE via PubMed, MEDLINE via Voids, Web of Knowledge, Cochrane, CINAHL, Embase, and Scopus, and were assessed for their eligibility.

Results: A total of 18 eligible studies were included. Six articles evaluated validity of different DA measures; four assessed effectiveness of different distraction techniques in reducing DA; four examined association of previous dental experiences with DA; and four explored causative factors associated with DA.

Conclusion: To advocate reducing the level of children’s DA, dentists must not consider only common causative factors such as anaesthesia, dental extraction, and numbness; but also socio-dental aspects related to DA including children’s previous painful experiences, gender, age, and oral health related quality of life.

Key Message

Dental practitioners must consider the common causative factors and socio-dental aspects associated with dental anxiety as this could help in reducing dental anxiety level among children.

Keywords: Dental anxiety; dental fear; dental phobia; children; scoping review

Abbreviations: DA: Dental Anxiety; OHRQoL: Oral Health Related Quality of Life; ACDAS: A beer Children Dental Anxiety Scale; CFSS-DS: Children’s Fear Survey Schedule-Dental Subscale

Abstract| Introduction| Materials and Methods| Results| Discussion| Limitations| Conclusion| Acknowledgments| Source of Funding| Conflict of Interest| References|