Adaptation and Testing of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Resource of Turkish Version to Reduce Dental Anxiety in Children

INTRODUCTION: Dental anxiety is a common problem in pediatric dentistry and to reduce it with improved communication is important. This study aimed to evaluate whether the anxious children give similar answers in the dental office even though they have different cultural backgrounds and to assess the international usability of the cognitive behavioral therapy tool of the Turkish version of ‘Your Teeth are in Control’ intervention includes ‘Message to Dentist’.
METHODS: 262 children aged 5-15 years attending a faculty clinic and a private dental office were included. Children were asked to complete the form to report how worried they felt and the levels of pain they experienced before and after the dental treatment on a scale 1-10 (1 the best and 10 the worst outcome). Statistical analysis was performed with IBM SPSS V23.
RESULTS: Most of the participants were worried about the needle, dentist, pain, respectively (38.2%, 34%, 28.2%). Most of the children raised their hand as a stop signal (94.7%). There was a statistically significant negative and weak correlation between age and anticipated pain, actual pain and anxiety scores (p: 0.016, 0.003, 0.001 respectively).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The ‘Message to Dentist’form and cognitive behavioral therapy resource can be used in pediatric dentistry to reduce the dental anxiety in the Turkish version. It was useful to understand the source of dental anxiety in children can facilitate treatment by helping pediatric dentists understand how these patients feel about dental treatment procedures and, in their efforts, to improve patient care.