Caries risk and dental anxiety in recall patients in a specialised paedodontic university clinic

Objective To evaluate parental reports of the oral health status and anxiety levels of children who attended a paediatric dental service and their association with children’s caries experience. Methods This questionnaire- and dental record-based study included a total of 70 healthy recall children aged between five and 10 years, who presented for a dental check-up to the specialised paedodontics department at the University of Greifswald, and for whom an application of fluoride varnish was indicated. The accompanying parent (n=70) was asked to evaluate their child’s dental anxiety (dichotomously with a single question – yes or no answer) and oral health status (good, satisfying, poor). Caries experience was categorised according to the dmft index based on World Health Organisation (WHO) criteria. Results An overall frequency of dental anxiety of 40% (n=28) was found in recall children according to parental report. Only 32.1% (n=9) of those were children with low to very low caries experience, whereas 67.9% (n=19) belonged to the moderate to high/very high caries experience group. Thus, dental anxiety in this study was significantly associated with caries experience based on dmft index (p=0.030, chi-square test). Parental assessment of the oral health status of the schoolchildren and their caries experience level also showed a statistically significant association (p=0.020; chi-square test). Conclusion: Dental anxiety in recall children attending a specialised paediatric university dental clinic is high, which is clearly associated with higher caries experience. The majority of children who attended for dental follow-up appointment had moderate to very high caries experience, which was also associated with higher parent-reported dental anxiety and a poorer oral health status report.