Do dentists use validated child dental anxiety measures in clinical practice? A mixed methods study

Abstract

Background: Assessing anxiety is an important part of the assessment of a child presenting for dental treatment. Health psychologists have been key in developing and validating child dental anxiety measures yet there is little information concerning their implementation and use by paediatric dentists. The aims of our study were to establish the extent to which anxiety measures are used in clinical practice, and to explore the experience and views of dentists regarding anxiety assessment. Methods: We audited the use of formal anxiety assessment across child patient notes in a UK dental hospital. We also interviewed fourteen paediatric dentists on how they identify anxious patients. Findings: Our audit highlighted only five patients were assessed using validated anxiety questionnaires. Thematic analysis of the dentist interviews revealed three themes: Using clinical experience to identify anxiety; Time as a barrier to using anxiety measures; Lack of knowledge/experience of anxiety measures. Discussion: There is a role for health psychologists to highlight the importance of validated child dental anxiety measures, in order to identify highly anxious patients and to help monitor the effectiveness of treatment interventions.