Effect of systematized "behavior shaping" on acceptance of dental treatment in children

The aim of this study was to compare the acceptance level of children treated by dentists who had participated in a training program of psychologic care and systematized "behavior shaping", with the acceptance level of children treated to a large extent by the same dentists before their training program. The material consisted of 2400 children treated by 149 dentists, to be compared with the material of 2773 children treated by 161 dentists in the "before training" study; 127 dentists took part in both studies. The training program included a video film, a manual, and a case form. Of the children treated before the dentists underwent the training program, 79% showed positive acceptance of all treatment steps encountered during dental visits, 13% reluctant acceptance, and 8% negative or no acceptance. The corresponding figures for children treated after the training program were 92, 6, and 2%. The distributions of overall positive acceptance in the two studies were compared by means of a logistic regression model. The level of overall positive acceptance was significantly increased after the dentists had participated in the training program. The improvement was most pronounced among the youngest children and children in need of restorative treatment or extraction. Of all the background variables studied, age, present need of treatment, and the before/after training variable had the greatest influence. The study shows that dentists can be trained to obtain significantly increased positive acceptance of dental treatment in children, and that the method does not require extra time in the dental chair.