Ansiedade e medo no tratamento odontológico em crianças na rede municipal de São José do Rio Preto/SP

Abstract

Children’s fear and anxiety on dental treatment are an investigation target of many researchers, for the knowledge of the existence of these feelings in children makes the professional more prepared for performing a good quality treatment. Objective: evaluate the presence of fear and anxiety in children submitted to dental treatment. Methodology: This is a descriptive, transversal survey in a convenience sample. Fifty 11 to 14-year-old children of both genders took part in this survey and were treated at the EM Mario Altenfelder Moraes Silva Maternity Hospital and at the UBS Solo Sagrado Healthcare Unit. The instruments used were: Children’s Schedule – Dental Subscale survey form (CFSS-DS) for measuring fear and anxiety, and Venham Picture Test (VPT) for measuring children’s anxiety in the dental treatment, this last one applied before and after the treatment. Data were tabulated in Microsoft Office Excel and submitted to test X2 at the level of significance (p <0.05). Results: the sample was composed of 68% girls and 32% boys. In the evaluation of the results obtained in the VPT test, regarding the presence of anxiety before and after the treatment, the female gender showed p=0,9974 with no anxiety and p= 0,5597 with anxiety, demonstrating that girls, either before or after the treatment, don’t show anxiety. The male gender showed a very similar result, being p= 0,9906, with no anxiety and p= 0,5588 with anxiety. The results showed that girls are a little more anxious than boys, but there are no significant differences between them.