A longitudinal study of 127 children between the ages of 11 and 17 years revealed a high initial prevalence of gingivitis that tended to decline slightly with age. The distribution of the ages of the children when experiencing their observed maximum amount of gingivitis was consistent with the hypothesis that there is a relationship between puberty and gingivitis. There was also evidence that at the time of the peak gingivitis experience the gingival tissues were exhibiting a heightened response to irritation.

Summary. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of dental anxiety reported by a group of 13‐ and 14‐year‐old children, and to explore the relationships between dental anxiety and general fear, social class, gender, size of family, length of time since the last dental appointment, and the number of people known by the child to be afraid of visiting the dentist. A group of 1103 children from eight schools took part in the study, which was completed in 1989. The children (mean age 14·0 years, SD 0·35) completed a structured questionnaire containing the Corah Dental Anxiety Scale (CDAS) and the Geer Fear Scale (GFS). The prevalence of high dental anxiety (CDAS> = 15) was 7·1%. High dental anxiety was associated with gender (girls having higher levels of anxiety than boys) and with social class as defined by father's occupation (lower social class groups having higher dental anxiety). Injection was the dental procedure most highly correlated with CDAS in children with a high dental anxiety, closely followed by ‘drilling' and ‘tooth scaling'. A high level of general fear (GFS) was associated with a high level of dental anxiety. Despite this, 64% of those with high dental anxiety had a low general fear. Two factors were useful predictors of high dental anxiety: the length of time since the last visit to the dentist and the number of people known by the child to be afraid of going to the dentist. Résumé. Le but de cette étude est de déterminer la prévalence de l'anxiété dentaire dans un groupe d'enfants âgés de 13–14 ans et les relations entre l'anxiété dentaire, la peur en général, la classe sociale, le sexe, la taille de la famille, le laps de temps depuis le dernier traitement dentaire et le nombre de personnes connues par l'enfant qui ont peur de se faire soigner les dents. Un groupe de Mille Cent Trois enfants, de huit écoles différentes, dont la moyenne d'âge étuit de 14 ans±0,35 ont été étudiés en 1989. Les enfants ont répondu à un questionnaire utilisant l'échelle Corah mesurant l'anxiété dentaire (C.D.A.S.) et l'échelle Geer mesurant la peur en général. La prévalence d'anxiété dentaire importante (CDAS> = 15) était de 7,5%. L'anxiété dentaire importante était en rapport avec le sexe (les filles ayant un niveau d'anxiété dentaire plus important que les garçons) et en rapport avec la classe sociale (les classes sociales les moins favorisées souffrant plus d'anxiété dentaire). L'anesthésie locale était l'acte dentaire le plus correlé avec CDAS chez les enfants souffrant d'anxiété dentaire puis le fraisage et de détartrage. Un niveau élevé de peur (G.S.F.) était associé avec un niveau important d'anxiété dentaire. En dépit de ce fait, 64% de ceux qui souffraient d'un niveau d'anxiété dentaire élevé avaient un niveau de peur bas. Ces deux facteurs étaient utiles pour prévoir un niveau élevé de peur dentaire: le laps de temps écoulé depuis la dernière visite chez le dentiste et le nombre de personnes connues par l'enfant qui avait peur d'aller chez le dentiste. Zussamenfassung. Das Ziel dieser Studie i...

The aim of this study was to examine the clinical outcome with regard to dental caries of high self reported dental anxiety in a group of Scottish secondary schoolchildren. 1103 children participated in the study, mean age 14 yr (sd 0.35 yr), and the prevalence of high dental anxiety was 7.1% (95% CI = 5.6%, 8.6%). When these children were compared with their contemporaries their DMFT and all its components were higher but only the mean MT reached statistical significance after adjusting for gender and social class. Children with a high dental anxiety were 62% more likely to have at least 1 missing tooth due to caries. In addition this group when compared to the rest of the study population, had a significantly lower mean number of teeth fissure sealed and a lower proportion of children with sealants. No similar trend was obvious for children who had a high general fear. The dentally anxious more accurately perceived their treatment need and were more likely to defer, cancel or not turn up for dental appointments.

Caries experience and oral cleanliness were measured in 1,453 3- and 4-year-old Edinburgh nursery schoolchildren living in areas of multiple urban deprivation and of non-deprivation in the city of Edinburgh. Children with poor oral cleanliness had a mean dmf value of 3.6 teeth compared with 1.6 teeth in those with good oral cleanliness. The greatest relative increases in caries experience were seen in the incisor and canine teeth and upon the occlusal and approximal surfaces. Children living in deprived city areas had a mean dmf value of 3.0 teeth compared with 2.0 teeth in those from non-deprived areas. This difference in caries experience was partially accounted for by the different standards of oral cleanliness found between the deprived and non-deprived areas. In the deprived areas there was a trend towards a high caries experience which was independent of the standard of oral cleanliness. The children were in considerable need of dental care. Only 23 percent of dmf teeth had been either extracted or restored.