Albert H. B. Schuurs

Appraisal of behavioral measurement techniques for assessing dental anxiety and fear in children: a review

The aim of this article is to review and evaluate behavioral and physiological measurement techniques frequently used to assess dental anxiety and fear in children. Attention is given to the data collected, the empirical findings obtained, and the availability of normative data. The main focus, however, is on the reliability and validity. Results show that all questionnaires are open to criticism. Of the behavioral measures, Melameds Behavior Profile Rating Scale is to be preferred to Frankls Rating Scale, Venham Rating Scales, and Visual Analogue Scales. The main reasons are that Melameds BPRS measures the behavior of the child more precisely and that it has superior psychometric properties. Furthermore, because of their practical, conceptual, and psychometric problems, physiological measures at this stage are found to be less appropriate for assessing dental fear in children. It is concluded that a behavioral measure is not always the ideal, but often the only available technique for assessing dental fear in children.

Skin conductance, Marlowe-Crowne defensiveness, and dental anxiety.

The present study assesses the relationship between self-reported dental anxiety (Dental Anxiety Inventory, Dental Anxiety Scale, and Duration of Psychophysiological Fear Reactions), electrodermal activity (skin-conductance level and frequency of spontaneous responses), and Marlowe-Crowne defensiveness. All measurements were made twice. The first session was scheduled immediately before a semi-annual dental check-up (stress condition), and baseline measurements were made two months later without the prospect of a dental appointment. Subjects were male dental patients who regularly attended a university dental clinic and a clinic for Special Dental Care. The main findings were that the low anxious-high defensive-scoring (Marlowe-Crowne Denial subscale) university patients showed significantly higher skin-conductance levels and frequency of nonspecific fluctuations than the low anxious-low defensive-scoring subjects. Besides, the conductance values of the low anxious-high defensive-scoring subjects resembled those of the high anxious-low defensive-scoring patients of the clinic for Special Dental Care, the baseline frequency of nonspecific fluctuations excepted.

A non linear analysis of the preference for preservation of the teeth

Data resulting from behavioral dental research, usually categorical or discretized and having unknown measurement and distributional characteristics, often cannot be analyzed with classical multivariate techniques. A non linear principal components technique called multiple correspondence analysis is presented with its corresponding computer program that can handle this kind of data. The model is described as a form of multidimensional scaling. The technique Is applied in order to establish which factors are associated with an Individuals preference for preservation of the teeth.