Ansiedade frente ao tratamento odontológico: prevalência e fatores predictores em brasileiros

Reducing Dental Anxiety in Children Using a Mobile Health App: Usability and User Experience Study

BACKGROUND

Dentistry interventions cause common anxiety and fear problems in children (6-11 years), and according to scientific evidence, this causes a decrease in their quality of life. Therapies mediated by IT-based tools have been shown to positively influence children's mood based on distraction as well as relaxing activities, but there is no evidence of their use to reduce dental anxiety in children.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to answer the following research question: Does our new children-centered codesign methodology contribute to achieving a usable mobile-based product with a highly scored user experience?

METHODS

A mobile health app was developed to reduce dental anxiety in children using rapid application development following the usage-centered design methodology. Structured interviews were conducted to test the usability and user experience of the app prototype among 40 children (n=20, 50%, boys and n=20, 50%, girls; age 6-11 years) using a children-adapted questionnaire and the 7-point Single Ease Question rating scale. The Smiley Faces Program-Revised questionnaire was used to assess the level of dental anxiety in participants.

RESULTS

There were no significant differences between girls and boys. The task completion rate was 95% (n=19) for children aged 6-8 years (group 1) and 100% (n=20) for children aged 9-11 years (group 2). Group 1 found watching the relaxing video (task C) to be the easiest, followed by playing a video minigame (task B) and watching the narrative (task A). Group 2 found task C to be the easiest, followed by task A and then task B. The average time spent on the different types of tasks was similar in both age groups. Most of the children in both age groups were happy with the app and found it funny. All children thought that having the app in the waiting room during a dental visit would be useful.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings confirmed that the app is usable and provides an excellent user experience. Our children-adapted methodology contributes to achieving usable mobile-based products for children with a highly scored user experience.

Association between integrative and complementary health practices and use of dental services among older adults in Brazil: a cross-sectional study, 2019

OBJECTIVE

To analyze association between participation in integrative practices and regular use of dental services in Brazilian older adults.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study based on secondary data from the 2019 National Health Survey. All older adults aged 60 years and over were included. The study outcome was regular dental service use. Poisson regression models were used to estimate crude and adjusted prevalence ratios (PRs) and their respective at confidence intervals 95% (95%CI).

RESULTS

A total of 22,728 older adults were analyzed. Most were female (55.5%), reported that they were White (51.3%), had incomplete primary education (47.0%); 7.0% (95%CI 6.8;7.5) had used some form of integrative practice and 34.3% (95%CI 33.2;35.4) had used their dental service regularly. Individuals who used integrative practices had higher prevalence of dental service use even after adjusting the model (PR = 1.15; 95%CI 1.07;1.23).

CONCLUSION

Among Brazilian older adults use of integrative practices was associated with regular use of dental services.

Participant Observation to Apply an Empirical Method of Codesign with Children

Dental anxiety in children is a well-documented problem in the scientific literature. Tools mediated by Information Technology have been shown to positively influence children’s mood based on distraction as well as relaxing activities. We propose an empirical method of codesign with children to generate app content for reducing dental anxiety. The results are embedded in text through a thick description as an ethnographic technique. The method was applied to 163 children (6–8 years old) from a summer school and a primary school, obtaining multimedia products that were integrated into an app prototype. Finally, although this use case of the presented method is applied to the health field, it can be transferred to any other field of application of codesign to children by using material that is specific to new scenarios.

Manifestation of Anxiety during Dental Treatment: Integrative Literature Review

Abstract Even with the technical-scientific advance in Dentistry, it is still seen as a profession that causes anxiety in children and adults. Therefore, in addition to the technical knowledge, the dental surgeon must have different strategies in the management and conduct of this situation once anxiety if aggravated can become pathological and interfere in the patient's oral health and  his or her  quality of life. Thus, the present study was conducted in order to realize the main aspects of dental anxiety, aiming to improve patient-dentist relationship, avoiding the onset of phobic disorders. This is an integrative review of the literature, using the Lilacs and SciELO databases with the descriptors anxiety, phobia and dentist verified individually and later they were crossed with AND operator with search period from 2000 to 2019, articles in Portuguese and in fulltext. The exclusion criteria were: thesis, books, final paper and dissertations. 20 articles were identified which showed that anxiety directly interferes with the effectiveness of treatment in different age groups. Priority should be given to communication between the dental surgeon and his or her patient, to recognize possible causes of discomfort. In addition, it is necessary to carry out more studies because there are differences in the literature concerning the interference of social and economic factors and schooling  levels  in the anxiety development. Keywords: Anxiety. Dentist. Phobia.  ResumoMesmo com o avanço técnico-científico na Odontologia, esta ainda é vista como uma profissão que provoca ansiedade em crianças e adultos. Dessa forma, além do conhecimento técnico, o cirurgião-dentista deve possuir estratégias diferenciadas no manejo e na conduta perante esta situação, uma vez que, se agravada, a ansiedade pode torna-se patológica e interferir na saúde bucal do paciente, afetando diretamente sua qualidade de vida. Assim, o presente estudo foi conduzido com intuito de perceber os principais aspectos da ansiedade odontológica, visando aperfeiçoar as relações paciente-dentista, evitando o desencadeamento de transtornos fóbicos. Trata-se de uma revisão integrativa da literatura, utilizando as bases de dados Lilacs e Scielo com os descritores: medo, fobia e dentista, verificados individualamente e posteriormente feito cruzamenento com AND, com período de busca de 2000 a 2019, artigos em portugues e na íntegra. Os critérios de exclusão foram: teses, livros, trabalhos de conclusão de cursos e dissertações. Foram identificados 20 artigos que  evidenciaram que a ansiedade interfere diretamente na efetividade do tratamento em diferentes faixas etárias, devendo-se priorizar a comunicação entre o cirurgião-dentista e seu paciente, para reconhecer possíveis causas de desconforto. Porém, é necessário realizar mais estudos devido as divergências na literatura referente a interferência de fatores sociais, econômicos e níveis de escolaridade, no desenvolvimento da ansiedade. Palavras-chave: Ansiedade. Dentista. Fobia.

Costs and benefits of Papacarie in pediatric dentistry: a randomized clinical trial

Papacarie gel is an agent that eliminates the need for local anesthesia and reduces the need for using a drill. However, there is no information regarding the cost per procedure. Therefore we analyzed the cost, per procedure, of Papacarie gel compared to the traditional method (drilling), and performed a comparison between these methods of carious tissue removal. A randomized clinical trial was performed with 24 children with an average age of 5.9 years old. Of these children, 12 were boys and 12 were girls, which resulted in a total of 46 restorations. Patients were separated into: Papacarie group (caries removal with the chemical-mechanical method - Papacarie gel) and Drill group (caries removal with the traditional method - drilling). Values of the materials used in the procedures, heart rate (before, 5 minutes during, and after dental treatment), and the total consultation duration were recorded. A level of significance of 5% was adopted. Papacarie had a lower cost per procedure ($ 0.91) when compared to the traditional method ($ 1.58). Papacarie provided a cost reduction of 42% compared to the traditional method. Using local anesthesia ($ 2.17), the cost reduction increased to 58%. In the procedure using drill + Papacarie ($ 1.37), the cost reduction was 33%. Heart rate, consultation duration, and number of restorations were not statistically different. Papacarie shows an excellent cost benefit for minimally invasive removal of carious tissue and is a feasible alternative for public health care.

Influence of maternal anxiety on child anxiety during dental care: cross-sectional study

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVES:

Anxiety is usually classified as a disorder of neurotic nature and is often related to contexts of stress, which may include worries, motor tension and autonomic hyperactivity. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of mothers' anxiety on their children's anxiety during dental care.

DESIGN AND SETTING:

Analytical cross-sectional study conducted at in a private dentistry school in the south of Brazil.

METHODS:

Convenience sampling was used. All mothers of children undergoing treatment were invited to participate in this study. Data to investigate anxiety related to dental treatment among the children were collected through applying the Venham Picture Test (VPT) scale. For the mothers, the Corah scale was applied. A self-administered sociodemographic questionnaire with questions about demographic, behavioral, oral health and dental service variables was also used.

RESULTS:

40 mother-child pairs were included in the study. The results showed that 40% of the children were anxious and 60% of the mothers were slightly anxious. Local anesthesia was the procedure that caused most anxiety among the mothers, making them somewhat uncomfortable and anxious (60%). Family income higher than R$ 1,577.00 had an influence on maternal anxiety (75.6%). Maternal anxiety had an influence on child anxiety (81.3%).

CONCLUSION:

Most of the children showed the presence of anxiety, which ranged from fear of dental care to panic, inferring that maternal anxiety has an influence on children's anxiety. Dental procedures did not interfere with the mothers' anxiety, but caused positive feelings, whereas they affected the children more.

Predictors of dental anxiety in Brazilian 5-7years old children

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to analyze the predictors of dental anxiety in 5 to 7-year-old children in a two years follow-up.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This is a longitudinal study conducted with 784 children with 5 to 7years old. A face-to-face interview was conducted with the parents. The Dental Anxiety Question (DAQ) answers were categorized as presence or absence of dental anxiety. The possible predictor factors analyzed were: related to the children (age, sex, parentage, childbirth, physical activity, body satisfaction, psychological well-being, physical well-being, dentist visit); and related to the parents or guardians (excessive alcohol consumption, smoke, family income, number of children). Forward stepwise logistic binary regression was performed for the multivariate analysis. The analysis was controlled by gender.

RESULTS

The prevalence of dental anxiety was 17.4%. Children in lower family income had 2.3 (95% CI: 1.3-4.0) greater chance to report high dental anxiety in comparison to children in higher family income. Similarly, children's parents who reported lower psychological well-being had 1.5 (95% CI: 1.0-3.0) greater chance to report high dental anxiety in comparison to children's parents with higher psychological well-being.

CONCLUSIONS

The prevalence of dental anxiety was high, and the family income and psychological well-being were inversely associated to dental anxiety in children.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

Knowing the dental anxiety predictors could help the pediatric dentist to analyze and understand who is more susceptible to develop dental anxiety. An adequate approach, a trust relationship could be built, improving the oral health conditions and reducing the need of treatment in children.

Avaliação do grau de ansiedade dos pacientes antes de cirurgias orais menores

INTRODUÇÃO: Medo e ansiedade são comuns a pacientes que requerem tratamento odontológico e, em se tratando de procedimentos cirúrgicos, a ansiedade pode tornar-se um fator complicador, a partir do momento em que a alteração dos sinais vitais do paciente pode gerar situações de emergência. OBJETIVO: Avaliar o grau de ansiedade pré-operatória dos pacientes submetidos a cirurgias orais, identificando qual procedimento cirúrgico causa mais ansiedade nos pacientes e qual o momento cirúrgico causador de maior ansiedade. MATERIAL E MÉTODO: Foram selecionados 200 pacientes que iriam se submeter a cirurgias bucais nos ambulatórios do Departamento de Odontologia da Universidade Federal de Sergipe. No dia da cirurgia, os pacientes respondiam à escala EAD, tendo sido avaliadas a frequência cardíaca (FC) e a pressão arterial sanguínea (PA), considerados dados basais dos parâmetros físicos empregados para a avaliação da ansiedade pré-operatória. RESULTADO: Não houve diferenças estatisticamente significantes (Kruskal-Wallis, p=0,6933) entre os tratamentos em relação à ansiedade. A correlação de Spearman (rS) entre os valores obtidos para a ansiedade e os valores de pressão arterial e frequência cardíaca revelou-se fraca (rS<0,2), embora significativa (p<0,05) entre os resultados. A anestesia foi o momento que produziu maior ansiedade (Kruskal-Wallis, p<0,05), em relação aos demais momentos. CONCLUSÃO: A ansiedade teve influência no aumento da frequência cardíaca e da pressão arterial sistólica, tornando-se importante o seu controle pelo cirurgião-dentista para evitar complicações no decorrer da cirurgia.