Parental Perception of Behavioral Techniques in Pediatric Dentistry at the Dr. René Puig Benz Dental Clinic at the Pedro Henríquez Ureña National University.
Description
Behavior management is considered of the utmost importance in pediatric dentistry because it enables us to provide quality dental care to child patients. Due to their young age and level of cognitive and emotional development, these patients often present challenges in terms of cooperation and behavior during dental procedures. To address these situations, students and pediatric dentists use various behavior management techniques to facilitate treatment and minimize anxiety and fear in children. The Tell-Show-Do (TSD) technique was the most accepted with 91.3% approval, followed by voice control with 66.3% approval. Active restraint (42.5%) and passive restraint (25%) had the lowest levels of acceptance. Significant differences were observed according to the gender, age, and educational level of the parents. There was also greater acceptance of restrictive techniques in dental emergency situations. It can be concluded that most parents prefer communicative and non-invasive techniques and only accept restrictive techniques when they are clinically necessary. These findings underscore the importance of open communication between pediatric dentists and parents, and the need to educate guardians about the various behavioral management strategies employed in pediatric dental care. Parental acceptance increased in emergency situations, where TSD, active restraint, and voice control all achieved 100% acceptance. However, statistical analysis revealed significant differences only in active restraint (p = 0.016), indicating that parents are more tolerant of restrictive techniques in emergency situations. H1: The level of perception of the father, mother, or legal guardian regarding the behavior control tactics used varies depending on their sociodemographic characteristics and the type of dental treatment the child needs at the Dr. René Puig Benz dental clinic. H0: There are no differences in the perception of behavior control tactics among fathers, mothers, and legal guardians according to their sociodemographic characteristics and the type of dental treatment their child needs at the Dr. René Puig Benz dental clinic.
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Steps to reproduce
After receiving approval to conduct the study at Dr. René Puig Benz's dental clinic (see Appendix #1), recruitment began for participants (parents and/or guardians of children between the ages of three and twelve) who visited the clinic and met the inclusion criteria. After verifying that both the patient and the student met the requirements, the informed consent form was read (see Appendix #4). Then, the patients decided whether or not to participate in the study. The study was explained to the participating parents, and informed consent was obtained. This included collecting data such as: sex, age, etc. , and whether the treatment would be preventive or emergency. The explanatory videos were presented on a tablet device for evaluating the content, preparing a script, and showing it to an educator and a pediatric dentist. According to the approved criteria, the video was then made on the four behavior management techniques used in the pediatric dentistry department at UNPHU. 1. Active restraint (AR): 2. Passive Restraint/Protective Stabilization (PR) 3. Tell-Show-Do (TSD) 4. Voice Control (VC) These videos were evaluated by a subject matter expert and teacher of pediatric dentistry and confirmed by an educator. Parental perception was measured using a visual analog scale (VAS) from 0 to 10, where 0 indicates non-acceptance and 10 indicates maximum acceptance. Parents were asked to rate their acceptance of each technique immediately after watching the explanatory video. The VAS has been used for over a decade to measure intangible quantities such as distress, comfort, and anxiety. It consists of a 100-mm-long line. After obtaining the acceptance scores for each participating parent using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for the four techniques, the scores were categorized as “high acceptance” (scores of 7 to 10) or “low acceptance” (scores of 6 or less). These results were used for statistical analysis after data collection. The chi-square test can be used to explore the association between acceptance level (high or low) and variables such as gender or type of treatment. For continuous variables, such as age, acceptance means between groups can be compared using tests such as ANOVA. The appropriate test will be chosen according to the normality of the data. After the demonstrations, parents/guardians were asked about their thoughts on the presented techniques and their comfort level with these techniques being used on their children.
Institutions
- Universidad Nacional Pedro Henriquez Urena