Children’s Perception About a Pediatric Dentist as a Superhero or Villain Volume 7 - Issue 2

Karimi M*

Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Sepideh Dental Clinic, Iran

Received: January 12, 2022;   Published: January 19, 2022

*Corresponding author: Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Sepideh Dental Clinic, Iran

DOI: 10.32474/IPDOAJ.2022.07.000257

Abstract PDF

Children have different views about pediatric dentists and different perceptions about their personalities. If you have ever talked to these children, you will find that they live in a fantasy world and have a special conception of anyone and everything. They most often analyze the dentist’s dressing, his talking, gestures, and behaviors in their mind. Sometimes in the children’s world, the group of dentists is considered as kind and loving people in the society, and in some cases, they are considered as hard-hearted and disgusting people. According to a study was published in the European Journal of Oral Sciences, 50% of young children looked at the dentist as a superhero, but 30% of children named the dentist as a monster and a villain. The perception of some children in this study was remarkable: different metaphors were used by children to describe dentists into the following categories: artistic, protective, and alleviative, chaotic, and unlovable, restorative, scary, scientific, and educative. Unfortunately, some parents and relatives in the presence of the child might call the dental procedure a terrible task. They create a monster from a dentist and explain the steps in such a way that it frightens the child. This would change the mentality of a child toward the dentist. Therefore, kids might go to the dentist with more fear and anxiety. At this time, they would gain different perspectives about the dentist’s character [1].
In conclusion, this study reveals the correlation between a dentist and a child can affect clinical outcomes. These relationships can be evaluated in pediatric cases with dental anxiety, dental phobia, and the dentists who are under stress. On the other hand, children’s perceptions about dentists may affect their oral health and their behaviors when referring to the dental office. Moreover, these perceptions and behaviors can influence dental management and treatments (Table 1). The possible use of these metaphors by children is to build better relationships with pediatric dentists. However, the study had a few limitations such as the exclusion of parental and environmental factors but investigating these factors may have a great impact on children’s dental behaviors. Moreover, these results give the idea of how children perceive dentists. Understanding a child’s perception could diminish anxiety, improve dentist-child interaction, and eventually lead to improving treatment outcomes. Consequently, a child’s perception of the pediatric dentist needs to be better understood and investigated [2].

1. Karimi M (2018) Why are Children Afraid of Dental Work? Mod App Dent Oral Health 2(4).
2. Buldur B (2021) Batman or Joker? A mixed‐method approach to understanding children’s perceptions of dentists. Eur J Oral Sci 129(4): 12787.