Impact of exposure to positive images on dental anxiety among children: a controlled trial

Abstract

Aim: To determine whether exposing children to images of positive dental care would have an effect on their degree of anxiety, assessing anxiety three separate times.

Study design: Controlled trial.

Methods: The 70 participants from 4-11 years of age were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. The intervention consisted of viewing positive images of dentistry and dental treatment (n=35). The control condition consisted of dentally neutral images (n=35).

Outcome measures: Anxiety was assessed using the Venham Picture Test (VPT) prior to the intervention, immediately following the intervention and following the dental appointment.

Statistics: Statistical analysis (chisquare and Mann-Whitney tests) was conducted blind to group allocation.

Results: No significant difference was detected between the scores of the VPT in the two groups at any evaluation time (p>0.05). Dental anxiety at the three evaluation times was not correlated to age. There was no difference in level of anxiety between male and female participants (p>0.05).

Conclusions: Viewing positive images of dentistry and dentists did not have a greater effect on child anxiety in the dental setting than viewing neutral images, however, showed lower rates of anxiety for all children although this was not significant.