The significance of previous invasive and orthodontic treatment experiences on children's dental fear

The aim was to find out if children who have gone through orthodontic and invasive treatment have less dental fear than children who have experienced only invasive treatment or no treatment at all. The data consisted of 910 9- to 15-year-old children from Jyväskylä and Kuopio, Finland. A questionnaire was used that contained 11 dental fear-related questions and family member's dental fear and questions on oral health habits and family characteristics. Information on treatment procedures from three preceding years was collected from patient records. To study the association between dental fear and treatment experiences, analysis of variance, and multiple logistic regression analyses were performed. Dental fear was found more often in children who had experiences of orthodontic treatment experiences and invasive treatment than in children with invasive treatment only or no treatment experiences at all. Different orthodontic treatment experiences were not analysed individually, and the study was retrospective. Familiarization to dental treatment via orthodontic procedures does not necessarily decrease dental fear among children.