Assessment of communication words during dental treatment requiring with and without local anaesthesia between child and pediatric dentist

Abstract

Aim: To evaluate the widely used words by children and pediatric dentist during different dental procedures that involves treatment under local anaesthesia (LA) and without LA. Methods: 40 children aged between 6-12years were divided in to 2 groups, Group; I treated under local anaesthesia and Group II without anaesthesia. Each group comprising of 20 subjects (male- 10) (female -10) were recruited from the Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry. The procedure was randomized only in one appointment by collecting the data conducted by recording the conversations between the child and dentist from the time the child walks in the dental operator until the session got over. The conversation was taped, transcribed and analyzed linguistically and statistically using chi-square test. Results: A total of 50 words were used with a minimum of 15 words in a session. There were no significant difference were found in words spoken by the child and the practitioner regarding gender, session, and duration of being acquainted with (p>0.05). Regarding age groups, (4–7-year-old) significantly used fewer words than the schoolers (6–12-year-old) (p<0.05). Conclusions: This study proved that the most commonly used words by the practitioner in treatment under LA and without LA were “syringe”, “pain” and “to identify” and “stop”, “open your mouth”, and “to identify” respectively.

Keywords

• child
• dentist
• communication
• verbal behavior