Changes in children's dental fear during 3.5-year period

Objective: The aim was to study changes in children's dental fear during a 3.5-year period. Materials and methods: The study group consisted of all 5th and 6th graders in the beginning of the 2001-2002 school year in the town of Pori, Finland (n=1691), except for mentally disabled and handicapped children attending special schools. At the baseline the children were 11 and 12 years old. Their dental fear was evaluated in Fall 2001, in Spring 2003 and in Spring 2005 with a single item dental fear question with 5 reply alternatives (not afraid, a little afraid, afraid to some degree, quite afraid or very afraid). Those children who reported being quite or very afraid of dental treatment were considered fearful. Of the children those who replied to the question at all three time-points were included in the analyses (n=1285). Results: In general, the children's fear decreased between 2001 and 2003 (p=0.004 Wilcoxon signed rank test) but increased between 2003 and 2005 (p<0.001 Wilcoxon signed rank test). Of the children 10.2% were fearful in 2001, 9.0% in 2003 and 12.9% in 2005. Of the 131 fearful children in 2001 38% (n=50) were still fearful in 2003 and of them 76% (n=38) continued to be fearful in 2005. Of the 81 children who were no longer fearful in 2003 only 22% (n=18) reported dental fear again in 2005. Of the 1154 at the baseline non-fearful children 6% (n=66) developed fear between 2001 and 2003. Of them 52% (n=34) were still fearful in 2005. Of the 1088 children who were still non-fearful in 2003 7% (n=76) developed fear between 2003 and 2005. Conclusion: There are changes in children's dental fear over time both in terms of recovery from and development of fear.