Prevalence of negative behaviour in the dental setting and association with sociodemographic, oral health-related and psychosocial factors amongst Brazilian preschool children

Purpose To investigate the prevalence of negative behaviour in preschool children attending dental clinics and its association with sociodemographic, oral health-related and parental psychosocial factors. Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out with 145 parents/guardians and their children aged 4–6 years attending paediatric dentistry training programmes in a capital city of Midwest Brazil. Data were obtained from children’s dental records, interviews, and questionnaires for parents/guardians. The outcome was negative child behaviour, based on the dentists’ use or indication of behavioural control measures during the dental appointments, as registered in the children's dental records. Covariates were sociodemographic, clinical and parent/guardian psychosocial factors religiosity (DUREL index) and Sense of Coherence (SOC-13 scale). Bivariate analyses and Poisson regression with robust variance were performed. Results The prevalence of negative behaviour was 24.1% (95% CI = 17.9–31.7). In the bivariate analyses, the variables initially selected for the regression models ( p