Parental acceptance of behavior management techniques for preschool children in dental practice: Revisited

Abstract

Background: Parental acceptance of behavior management techniques (BMTs) in dental practice is important and subjected to change with the dynamics of the society. Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate the parental acceptance of eight selected BMTs: tell–show–do (TSD), voice control (VC), passive restraint (PR), active restraint (AR), parental presence/absence (PP/PA), oral sedation (OS), inhalation sedation nitrous oxide/oxygen (N2O/O2), and general anesthesia (GA) and its associated factors in a group of Thai parents. Design: The cross-sectional study was conducted among 200 parents of preschool children in Bangkok metropolitan. Materials and Methods: Parents were asked to rate the BMTs demonstrated in video with a Visual Analog Scale (VAS). Possible relevant factors were collected via questionnaires. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the samples. BMTs were ranked by mean VAS using the general linear model repeated measure. The association between the mean VASs and parental and child's factors was analyzed using the one-way ANOVA and independent t-test. Significant factors were further analyzed by multiple linear regression. The level of confidence was set at 95%. Results: All BMTs were acceptable. TSD was rated the highest, followed by PR, VC, AR, N2O/O2, OS, GA, and PP/PA, respectively. Parental dental anxiety was associated with less acceptance of PP/PA. Child's experience of VC, AR, OS, and PP/PA was related to better acceptance of the techniques. Conclusions: The BMTs were better accepted with similar pattern compared to past studies. PP/PA was the least accepted related to high parental anxiety. Child's experience with BMTs increased the acceptance.

Keywords

• behavior management technique
• parental acceptance
• preschoolers