Behaviour Management of the Contemporary Child in Paediatric Dentistry: An Overview of the Research

Abstract

Objective: To provide an overview of the most relevant studies on non-pharmacological behaviour management techniques for contemporary children, the so-called alpha generation, who undergo dental treatment. Material and Methods: A systematic search was performed on the Medline/PubMed and Google Scholar (grey literature) databases. The articles were read and data collected by two reviewers on an independent basis. Two reviewers collected data from the studies selected in tables structured by using the Rayyan QCRI software. The following data were extracted: year of study, child's age, child's gender, technique used. Results: A total of 322 articles were found, remaining only 17 after duplicates were removed and inclusion and exclusion criteria applied. The studies were conducted between 2010 and 2019

Basic behavioral management techniques in pediatric dentistry: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

“…This could be attributed to technique's ability to engage children's attention, thus occupying their thoughts away from the procedure and minimizing unpleasant stimuli from the dental environment. This is in accordance with previous systematic reviews, which reported a positive effect of different distraction techniques on behavior alteration during dental treatment [6,11,[78][79][80]. Their full commitment to the distraction technique could be also associated to the reduction of treatment's duration reported in our review.…”

“…Acceptable effectiveness was reported for PP in eliminating children's fear and anxiety. Nowadays, there is a tendency for parents to be present in the operating room during treatment, which can be explained by today's life-style and parent's increased active involvement in the successful implementation of treatment [79]. Although, the above assumption is based on limited evidence and without a meta-analysis to allow specific conclusions to be drawn.…”

Behavioral management techniques in pediatric dentistry: a literature review

“…One of the forms of this distraction is through a system of glasses that is placed in the child's eyes, allowing them to connect to various devices so that they can choose their favorite animation, aligned with their age group (CUNNINGHAM et al, 2021). The personalization of this choice provides the infant patient with a sense of familiarity during the procedure, reducing the chances of uncooperative behavior (LIU et al, 2019;SILVA et al, 2021).…”

“…A study evaluating clinical anxiety highlighted a significant reduction in anxiety during dental procedures, including during the injection of local anesthesia, in the group that used audiovisual distraction compared to the group without this technique, indicating the effectiveness of this approach in reducing fear and anxiety in dental care (GUJJAR et al, 2019;SILVA et al, 2021). Audio-visual glasses have been shown to be more efficient in promoting cooperative behavior and reducing anxiety, surpassing relaxation techniques such as music or TV in the dental environment (LIU et al, 2019).…”

“…Audio-visual glasses have been shown to be more efficient in promoting cooperative behavior and reducing anxiety, surpassing relaxation techniques such as music or TV in the dental environment (LIU et al, 2019). This is because the child patient diverts his attention to the animation in the audiovisual glasses, avoiding concentrating on the noises of the dental equipment (SILVA et al, 2021). In addition, this approach enables the child to reduce the perception of pain sensation, relieving their discomfort (GUJJAR et al, 2019;RICHARDS, 2019).…”