Abstract

SOARES, Fernanda Cunha; LIMA, Daniela Salvador Marques de; BARRETO, Kamila Azoubel  and  COLARES, Viviane. Factors associated with dental anxiety in children: a literature review. Psic., Saúde & Doenças [online]. 2015, vol.16, n.3, pp.373-385. ISSN 1645-0086.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the studies find in the literature regarding factors associated with dental anxiety. A literature review was performed through of active search for information on the Virtual Health Library (BIREME) in MEDLINE and LILACS databases. The descriptor used was "Dental Anxiety", the filters used were children, English, Spanish or Portuguese languages and be the scientific paper. A selection of articles was taken through reviewing the abstracts, and had the following inclusion criteria: primary issue related to factors associated with dental anxiety, dental anxiety used as dependent variable, population aged up to 12 years of age and representative sample of the population investigated. The review process for evaluation and selection of articles was conducted by two researchers independently. In cases of disagreement was the participation of a third reviewer researcher. Total of 5494 references was obtained. After the use of filters, remained 437 articles. And of these, 13 were selected for this study. Some factors were associated with dental anxiety : a) factors related to the child: gender, age, emotional intelligence, birth order; b) Factors related to oral health: previous experience at the dentist, tooth pain history; caries and c) factors related to parents: parental anxiety and maternal education. Dental anxiety was higher in younger children, in children without dental experience, with a history of tooth pain and or caries and in children with anxious parents.

Keywords : Dental anxiety; child; associated factors.

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