The effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in the reduction of dental anxiety in children

Abstract

Study selection Two independent and calibrated reviewers selected randomised controlled trials investigating cognitive behavioural therapy use in dentally anxious children.

How is paediatric dentistry taught? A survey to evaluate undergraduate dental teaching in dental schools in the United Kingdom

“…16 The fact that two units did not teach cognitive behaviour therapy as a concept may be reflective F I G U R E 1 Bar chart showing types of behaviour management techniques taught by participating universities [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] of its relatively novel popularity within the paediatric dentistry community and it may be that more universities incorporate this technique within their curricula over time, once there is more evidence supporting its efficacy. 17 Teaching of sedation techniques appeared to be less consistent. Whilst inhalational sedation and general anaesthesia were commonly taught, there was greater variation in the teaching of oral and intravenous sedative techniques.…”

“…It is interesting that one unit did not teach systematic desensitisation, which would be a potentially useful technique for the newly qualified dentist to utilise in practice 16 . The fact that two units did not teach cognitive behaviour therapy as a concept may be reflective of its relatively novel popularity within the paediatric dentistry community and it may be that more universities incorporate this technique within their curricula over time, once there is more evidence supporting its efficacy 17 …”

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Health Care Professionals Towards Universally Applied Behavior Modification Techniques for Management of Pediatric Patients

“…14 Cognitive-behavioural therapy with Positive modelling, Psychologist led guidance, hypnotherapy, Self-guided help, and Systemic desensitization is gaining popularity among the practitioners because of its low cost and tapering the anxious pediatric patients off the pharmacological approaches. 15 Davit et al, stated in their study that 85.4% of children underwent complete and successful invasive procedures like venipuncture without any advanced behaviour guidance techniques, which shows that pediatric patients can be at times managed without the use of any behavioural modification technique. 16 Since the most feared procedures among the pre-school children are the invasive procedures, cognitive behavioural therapy reinforces positive effects by acclimatizing or familiarizing them to the known and unknown fear with the help of parents and short clinical meetings with graded exposure.…”